Sword Art Online - Alternative Reality

The Vice-commander and The Scout CHP.4

Maneuvering our way through the much large crowd of players, we found ourselves back on the main road. It was surprisingly easy to get through the horde since most of the players opened up a path when they saw us, although the gazes were several times more intense than earlier. Still having no idea where I would be 'escorting' my vice-commander towards, I turned to Asuna once we were far away enough from the other players.

"So where are we heading towards?"

My hand was still firmly grasped by hers despite us already having passed the crowd, so it didn't seem necessary, but since she said this is what an escort was supposed to do, I didn't really have much room to try and let go. I wonder if I could find a book here that could up my escort proficiency skill...

"Hmm, let's see..."

Opening up her menu and setting it to visible, she showed me her map with several personal waymarkers on them. Pretty much all of them were shops in the northern district of Mejorna.

"I have to drop by these places to pick up some materials and orders I made a few days ago, then we can stop by here for lunch before heading to your 'surprise.'"

Pointing to the only marker outside the northern district, I saw that the marker was placed on one of the restaurants we used to frequent when we were still clearing this floor, it had some decent food, and its second-floor tables were out of the way and provided a nice view of the town. Committing the rest of the markers to memory on my mental map, I was a bit surprised to see that most of the places we would be stopping by mostly dealt in restaurant ingredients. I'm pretty sure she didn't have the cooking skill, but if she had something she needed from them, I guess it was now my job to take her to them. It seemed like we wouldn't be going out griding for mob drops, a bit of a shame, but at least this would be a nice change of pace.

"Alright, well we should have more than enough time to visit all these places, anyone you want to visit first?"

"I'll leave the route to you."

Well, at least this wasn't those old-school escort missions where you had to go at a snail's pace behind an NPC.

"Alright, well let's get going then."

Slowly we began visiting all the shops Asuna had marked down. Most of the shop owners and their patrons were people I was familiar with, so we always ended up chatting for a bit and catching up with one another. I was in charge of opening doors and guiding Asuna around, with the only times she let go of my hand being when she conducted her trade deals a bit away from me, before coming back and joining our hands together again. I had no idea what she was getting from all these places, but I had a feeling ill find out one day. Although it was prime adventuring hour, there was still a decent amount of foot traffic throughout the town, so we were never able to fully escape the gazes. Still, we managed to meet up with some familiar mid-level players that were interested in joining the clearing group and get some updates on how the lower floors were doing. We even stopped by one of the fountains to listen to a player singing some songs in line with the town's BGM. Talking idly with Asuna over random topics while we continued on her shopping spree, it really was a nice change of pace. I guess I should spend more time showing my face around town.

Finally, just a few minutes past 12, we had finished our tour of the northern section and reached the restaurant. Despite having recently, a decently sized breakfast, all of the walking, talking, and enduring the gazes had caused my stomach to start grumbling again. It was devoid of any players because of how hidden it was, which suited me just fine. We went up to the second floor and took our seats on one of the balcony tables, a sense of nostalgia filling me as I remembered how I accidentally stumbled upon, or more accurately, fell on and found this restaurant in the first place.