As if the chill till yesterday was a lie, a warm, gentle breeze blew over
the lawn. Perhaps attracted by the merrymaking, several small birds
descended onto a branch of the garden tree, appearing to look over the
humans with great interest.
A garden party was hosted without care for the season at the vast front
yard of Sasha's church, with the big table from the dining hall moved
and set there. Food was taken out from a large grill like magic, raising
a grand roar of joy from the children.
"To think that something this delicious... was actually in this world..."
The chief executive of the «Army» who was rescued just the previous
night, Sinker, bit into the barbecue that Asuna had exhibited her
talents in, as he spoke with awe. Beside him, Yuriel looked over the
situation with a smile. She had the presence of a cool-headed female
warrior on the first impression, but when she was beside Sinker, she
resembled nothing more than a cheerful young wife.
And as for Sinker, although there wasn't much time to get a good look
at him yesterday, when sitting at the same table like this instead, he
had a character that gave off an aura of gentleness, very much unlike
what the top of a huge organization would be thought as.
With a stature of a degree slightly taller than Asuna, he was evidently
shorter than Yuriel. His somewhat stocky body was clad in plain
clothes, and he did not have a single weapon on hand. Beside him,
Yuriel too, was not in her Army uniform style today.
Sinker accepted the wine bottle Kirito offered into his glass, and
apparently not for the first time, he gave a firm bow.
"Asuna-san, Kirito-san. We are truly obliged to you this time. Just
how can I thank you..."
"No, I'm quite indebted to «MMO Today» on the other side, after all."
Kirito answered as he smiled.
"That's a nostalgic name."
A broad smile showed on Sinker's round face upon hearing that.
"At that time, with the burden that updating daily was, I thought that I
shouldn't even bother doing a news site, but when compared to being
a guild leader, it certainly was slightly easier. I would have been
better off running a newspaper stand here too, huh."
Gentle laughter streamed out from the table.
"And well... how did things go with the «Army»...?"
Asuna enquired, and Sinker changed his expression.
"Kibaou and his followers were expelled. I really should have done
that much earlier... With my personality of being bad at arguments,
