“Papa! Come eat!”
A tender voice caught Wu Yan’s attention. Heretofore, he was reading the papers. He turned around to see Yui holding a steaming hot dish overhead. She kept appearing between the kitchen and the dining table.
“Be right there…”
Wu Yan smiled at Yui. He continued reading the papers.
“Here, Yui…”
Asuna passed Yui another dish.
“This is the last one…”
Yui nodded enthusiastically, she dashed away to put the dish on the dining table. Asuna removed her apron as she looked at the sofa.
“Are there any important news today?”
Asuna peeked at Wu Yan’s paper from behind him.
“Judging from your serious look, is it the protest rally again?”
Wu Yan rolled his eyes at her.
“Those jokers are probably grinding hard to make up for the days spent on protesting our wedding. Seriously, don’t they have quests to finish?”
Asuna pursed her lips. She turned her head the other way without giving it another thought. The protest rallies are aimed at the wedding between Asuna and Wu Yan. Even if they called themselves avid fans of hers, she didn’t have the slightest iota of goodwill for them.
It’s not like she was forced into this marriage. She genuinely wants to spend the rest of her life with Wu Yan and that’s why she tied the knot with him. These people who had nothing better to do came and they used their admiration towards her as a guise to protest their union. Asuna is already doing pretty well for tolerating their behavior, any other girl would probably tell these bozos to buzz off.
She saw the looks on her fans, she knew what they were really after and that’s why she couldn’t be bothered to think twice about the shallow assholes. If it were Liz, anyone who had something to say about her nuptial with Kirito better get ready to get some sense knocked into them. In the face. With her exquisitely-made hammer.
As for Asuna, there are only so many people that can trigger her so much that she wants to kick their asses. Aside from Kuradeel who got sent to meet his maker, there is no one else on her black list at the moment.
“If it’s not the protest, what’s got you so riled up then?”
Asuna said with a confused tone.
I thought you barely cared about trivial news…”
“Well, I do make exceptions…”
Wu Yan drank his black tea.
“I care about news regarding clearing, or what the front-line raiders are doing, I usually ignore other news…”
Asuna lowered her head. She hesitated before asking Wu Yan a question.
“W-what about the clearing progress?”
“They are already exploring the labyrinth…”
Wu Yan said. Asuna gasped in shock.
“It’s only been two weeks since the new floor opened up, right?”
“It’s slow compared to how fast we cleared the 74th floor…”
Wu Yan pursed his lips.
“That was different, this is the 75th floor!”
Asuna said with a worried look.
“This boss is probably going to be a tough nut to crack just like the floor bosses on the 25th and 50th floor. I think they should take more care. If it were up to me, I would scout the labyrinth first before we dive into the dungeon, are they going to be okay like this?”
“You’re worrying too much…”
Wu Yan turned around. He looked into her eyes.
“Without you, Heathcliff is now taking the stage. You should know how capable he is. With him in charge, we don’t have to worry too much.”
Asuna flinched and then she agreed with him.
“I almost forgot the captain is the leader of the raid group, I am sure he’s a major reason why the raid group reached the labyrinth in less than half a month…”
“Oh? You sound like you trust the captain a lot …”
Wu Yan rubbed his chin.
“I recall that he rarely fought outside of floor clearing raids, right? Are you sure he can handle tasks like leading the raid group?”
“That’s because you never saw the captain in action!”
Asuna sat by Wu Yan’s side. She started telling her story with a serious look as her eyes stared into the distance.
“At first, the knights of Blood Oath is only a small guild, there were less than a dozen members in the guild, a far cry from what the guild is today!”
“But, from the start, the members were hand-picked elites that stood at the top or near the top of their professions. I was surprised by the roster when I joined.”
“Knights of Blood Oath gradually grew in power as the captain started gathering intel on exceptional players. He would then follow up with a personal invitation to these players…”
Asuna glanced at Wu Yan with a nonchalant look on her face.
“I heard the others talking about recruiting you. Except, you turned down the captain’s hospitality and you even told him to talk to you again after he makes KoB the strongest guild in the game. Suffice to say, the captain spent even more time expanding the guild after that…”
Wu Yan turned his head the other way awkwardly. Asuna giggled in glee.
“Well, I wasn’t a member then, I only heard it from the KoB members who were talking as I passed them.”
Asuna patted Wu Yan’s chest. She stored her smile away.
“I wasn’t joking about the captain’s effort to rapidly expand the guild. I don’t know how the captain motivated the players into action. He got the players to join and the guild became stronger and stronger until one day, we became the strongest guild in the game!”
“You’ve got to hand it to the captain,, he developed Knights of Blood Oath from a small guild into the strongest guild in the game!”
Asuna said with a serious expression.
“Now that you mention it, it’s certainly not surprising that the clearing speed increased with him around. Although, I kinda hate the present state of the guild…”
Wu Yan listened intently. Heathcliff is Kayaba Akihiko, the true final boss of this game. There is a high chance he will have to face him in a not-so-distant future. Any news on Heathcliff is very much welcomed.
An inbox notification spawned in front of Wu Yan. Wu Yan’s attention got attracted, he read the content and he knitted his brows.
Asuna got closer to Wu Yan.
“What’s wrong? Did you get a mail from somebody?”
Wu Yan nodded. He closed the mail with a helpless look.
“Jeez, talk about timing, he sent an email right when we are talking about him, is he spying on us or something?…”
Asuna gasped as she stood up in shock.
“The captain sent a mail to you?”
“Yeap…”
Wu Yan laid back against the sofa.
“He said it’s very important and he wants me to show up at Granzam’s KoB HQ. Since he went through the trouble of personally sending me a private message, I am guessing it can only be one thing…”
Asuna’s pupil contracted.
“The floor boss!”
“I guess…”
Wu Yan narrowed his eyes.
“Besides the floor boss, I think he knows I wouldn’t give a rat’s furry ass about trivial matters.”
“Yan…”
Asuna grabbed Wu Yan’s hand.
“Tomorrow, I…”
“I can go by myself!”
Wu Yan stopped Asuna. He clenched down on Asuna’s hand.
“You know about my capabilities, right?”
“But…”
Asuna had a concerned expression on her face.
“It’s okay…”
Wu Yan gave her a hug.
“I will always be with you…’
Asuna looked into Wu Yan’s eyes and then she nodded albeit a little unwillingly.
“Papa, mama, let’s eat!”
“Come, we should go grab something to eat…”
He pulled Asuna along as he followed Yui.
