Asuna frowned when she saw Rozen was lying down while staring listlessly at his sword.
“Why don’t you participate in the Field Boss Raid instead of loafing around in this place?”
Asuna asked Rozen without hesitation, and Rozen, who obviously hated being nagged around, immediately replied.
“You can do just fine without me, right?”
Rozen’s nonchalant answer changed the look in Asuna’s face.
“You’re obviously strong enough, yet why do you always slack off?” Asuna said: “Don’t you want to clear this game as soon as possible and return to the real world?”
Once again, Rozen replied nonchalantly.
“Not really.”
Hearing such an answer, obviously, Asuna was pissed.
“This guy…!”
(Does this guy know what he just said?)
Unfortunately, Rozen certainly knew what he was talking about.
“It’d be a lie if I said I didn’t want to return to the real world.” Rozen said indifferently: “but I’ve never thought of clearing this game as soon as possible.”
Of course, Asuna was dumbfounded when she heard Rozen’s answer. She would’ve called anyone else who said that a liar except for Rozen because who wouldn’t want to return to the real world as fast as possible?
Who wouldn’t be concerned about the clearing progress? In this world?
Staying a day longer in this world was equal to one step closer toward death itself, both physically and socially.
Died physically was easy to understand. As the name suggested, there was no telling how much the Players’ physical body could hold on.
They might die all of a sudden due to malnutrition or because the medical equipment could no longer keep them alive.
Died socially wasn’t that hard to understand either. Everything in the real world, be it family, friends, school, etc., would change while they were trapped in this world.
The longer they were trapped there, the more changes would happen once they returned to the real world.
Under such circumstances, who would not want to leave this world as soon as possible?
At the very least, Asuna always dreamt about returning to the real world whenever she slept.
Right now, the only thing in her mind was to become stronger and clear the game as fast as possible.
That was why Asuna couldn’t comprehend the Red Guild’s thought process.
She might be able to sympathize with Orange Guilds that threatened other Players in exchange for items and Cor, but she couldn’t understand the thought process of a Red Guild like Laughing Coffin, not even once.
After all, if there was a casualty among the existing Players, that meant the overall combat power would be reduced no matter who was killed.
With the overall combat power being reduced, it would be harder to clear more Floors waiting for them ahead.
A guild like Laughing Coffin was nothing but a hindrance to free everyone from this world, and that was why Asuna couldn’t understand the reason behind their action at all.
But even with that said, Asuna couldn’t say that Rozen was lying, simply because Rozen never said something out of whim.
Besides, Rozen has done a lot of things that Asuna couldn’t comprehend in the past. She just couldn’t read what he was thinking.
If Rozen knew what Asuna was thinking right now, he would’ve said…
“Alright, alright, there was no need to glare at me like that.”
That was right. Although Asuna usually looked cold, her thoughts and action were easy to understand.
Just like now, Rozen knew that she must have that exasperated look on her face even without looking at her.
However…
“If you’re too focused on one thing, you will easily miss other things.”
Rozen said indifferently.
“Being focused and paranoid are divided by a thin line, but they are two different things.”
Asuna was losing her patience because of Rozen’s remark, but Rozen suddenly pulled her down before she could say a word.
“Hyaa!”
Asuna was caught off guard and fell to the ground.
“Oho?”
On the other hand, Rozen laughed out of surprise.
“I didn’t know that even our mighty Flash-sama could make such a cute sound.”
Asuna finally lost it; she couldn’t take it anymore. However, all of a sudden…
“Look over there.”
Rozen pointed to the sky above them.
Asuna, who almost beat the crap out of Rozen, spontaneously looked toward the direction that Rozen pointed, and she was surprised by what she saw.
Because she saw a beautiful rainbow in the blue sky as birds flew past it, it was like a scene in animes and cartoons, but it was so real.
“Goo!”
“Woo!”
Saichou and Hanachou then flew to each end of the rainbow and discharged sparkling powders, making the scene even more beautiful.
“Not bad, right?”
Rozen said, snapping Asuna back from awe.
“Rainbow would randomly appear throughout the Floors in Aincrad, this time it happens to appear here.”
It was the landscape that could be seen only in the game world, just like the one they were in right now.
“You won’t be able to see this kind of landscape in the real world, right?”
Rozen said while looking up at the sky.
“Which one do you think is more real? Watching the sky without feeling anything or see this kind of scene in an imaginary world and moved by it?”
Asuna was speechless when she heard this question.
