A journey to another world starting from a sword

"Ha... Only players with guild leader qualifications can register their guild name on the flag." She sighed.

"Then I'll do it." Dante reached out and took the flag Asuna handed him, and now he was surrounded by beautiful girls.

Asuna's hand rested on his left shoulder, while Lisbeth peeked out from his right shoulder. Silica and Argo squeezed in front of him, and Mito and Lingyin also squeezed in.

The air was filled with an indescribable fragrance of a young woman, as if she had sprayed a mixed perfume, making it impossible to discern the exact ingredients, but it smelled wonderful.

With difficulty, Dante raised his hand from the gap, tapped the authentication button, and pressed "Yes" in the secondary window.

In an instant, the pure white flag was stained with a magnificent violet emblem. The "Banner of Valor" was now completely bound to their guild, becoming the guild flag of "Eternal Garden," and they could never change the guild they logged into afterward.

"Oh, oh—" Everyone looked up at the flag and exclaimed in amazement.

Releasing her hand from his shoulder, Asuna said with a smile, "We're still missing a standard-bearer."

"Hasn't the standard-bearer already been chosen?" Dante tilted his head in Asuna's direction. "We still need to recruit more guild members."

"Are you really sure?" Mitt asked solemnly. "Perhaps if the number of people increases, the nature of our guild will change."

It might collapse, which isn't surprising.

As the number of members increased, the veteran members were diluted, while new members became more active and gained control of the guild, so the guild was no longer the same guild it used to be.

"No, I don't plan to recruit too many people. Two teams will be enough, and the main force will only need one team."

The main team already has him, Asuna, and Mito; all we need to do is find three more strong players.

"Once we quickly break through to the sixth level, let's wait a bit for the players behind us."

If the Aincrad Alliance truly falls into disarray, that man will probably intervene personally.

"How can you make the sixth floor sound so simple?" Argo scoffed, then looked at the staircase extending from the ceiling after the Boss disappeared. "Let's hurry up and get going. I need to finish the final layout of the newspaper. News is most valuable when it's still valid."

"Hmm." Dante opened the game window's inventory and placed the guild flag on it. A light, cheerful sound effect rang out, and the slender flagpole was stored in the inventory.

The air was still quite cold when I came out of the staircase.

The main street of Aincrad on the sixth floor, "Starkyon," is a city that is quite tidy and clean in every corner.

The houses, built from glossy gray granite, are neatly arranged throughout the city, giving them a sense of regularity and a touch of mathematical and geometric beauty.

Of course, this is not the most ingenious part of "Starkion". In fact, the city is made up of "mathematics", and the theme of the sixth floor is "puzzle games"!

Argo then decided to part ways with them. "I'll give you the advance guide tomorrow, or at the latest this afternoon. I'll take my leave now."

"Oh." Dante shook his head, then asked Mitt, the only "closed beta tester" present, "Any recommended hotels?"

“I remember there’s an inn over there called ‘Pegasus Horseshoe Pavilion,’ the rooms are very luxurious.” Mito pointed to the right, seeing the expectant looks on everyone’s faces, but she had a sentence left to say before Asuna pulled her in that direction.

"...Although I wouldn't recommend choosing something too luxurious," she said helplessly.

"Why?" Asuna turned around and asked in confusion, after all, they didn't need that little bit of Cor.

Taking advantage of Christmas dates and appointments, she bought back all the beautiful clothes she had previously sold.

"Well," Mitt said, keeping everyone in suspense instead of answering directly, "you'll find out soon enough."

Upon entering the hotel, which bore the "Horseshoe" sign, Mitt led everyone to an ordinary room.

“…What is this?” Silica pointed to a metal object that looked tangled together and was set in a recess next to the door.

“I think you’ve already noticed this city, or rather, this floor is full of all sorts of puzzle games…” Mitt gave a brief introduction. “This hotel is the same, or rather, almost all the hotels on the sixth floor, ‘Starkion,’ require solving some kind of puzzle to open the room door.”

The more expensive the room, the more difficult it is, while the cheapest room here is a relatively simple horseshoe-shaped puzzle ring.

"..." Everyone except Dante and Mitt was stunned.

"What if we can't open it?" Lisbeth asked the crucial question.

“Then you don’t need to sleep.” Mitt spread his hands as if it were the most natural thing in the world and joked.

The thought of sleeping in the hallway that night made Lisbeth cover her face with her hands and shout, "No way!"

Chapter 135: The Allure of Journalism

"Don't worry, this is easy to solve." Dante tugged at the ring on the door, but since the rent hadn't been paid yet, he couldn't actually demonstrate it, but he still reassured the others.

“Then please demonstrate first,” Lisbeth said, extending her palm straight out.

"No problem," Dante said nonchalantly.

After returning to the front desk and spending 300 Corsages to rent a presidential suite-level room, the six of them went up to the third floor. This time, in front of the room door was a metal object resembling a nine-linked ring.

Sure enough, the more luxurious the room, the more difficult the puzzle game.

"Don't you want to give it a try?" Dante asked the five people behind him as he reached for the metal object.

“No, not at all.” Lisbeth was the first to shake her head decisively.

Asuna and Lingyin seemed very interested, while Silica peered in with some fear, and Mito merely shrugged without saying anything.

"Never mind." Dante turned back to the metal object in his hand, deftly disassembling each protrusion with his fingers until he finally removed the part with the key, then handed it over.

Asuna accepted the parts he handed her with a complicated expression. She hadn't expected that the seemingly difficult lock would be unlocked in less than half a minute.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped forward, inserted the key into the keyhole, and turned it half a turn to the left. A heavy click came from inside the door.

But to everyone's surprise, the key floated off her hand the very next second after she pulled it out, drifting in and out of the air before being sucked into the metal object.

Just now, after much difficulty—watching the parts that had indeed been difficult to disassemble automatically snap together with a series of click-clack sounds, they returned to their original block shape.

"Ah...ah..." Lisbeth silently raised her finger, making what sounded like "abba aba." What had just happened?

"I can't believe it, it can actually be taken back?!"

“This thing…” Asuna glanced at Dante, and after staring at the metal object in the wall for a while, she reached out her hand.

After about thirty seconds, she chose to give up and step back. Although she firmly believed that she could solve the problem given enough time, she couldn't waste everyone's time here.

"Would you all like to give it a try?" she asked, turning around.

"Then I'll give it a try." Lingyin stepped forward. "Um... um..."

After working up a sweat, she didn't hesitate for long before making the same choice as Asuna.

“I’ll go!” Lisbeth rolled up her sleeves, and the third challenger stepped forward.

"Mitsu should be able to solve it, right?" Asuna asked Mitsu, who was leaning against the wall.

“Hmm, I vaguely remember. It’s easy once you know the trick,” Mitt chuckled, then looked at Dante. “But I’m definitely not as fast as Dante.”

“Eh~” Asuna gave Dante a meaningful sigh.

Before Dante could even say anything, Lisbeth clutched her head and cried out, "No—!"

With a glimmer of hope, she turned her head and asked, "Speaking of which, shall we go back to the fifth floor, 'Karuruin'? Our things are still at the inn and haven't been moved over yet."

“But…” Lingyin pointed to the room in front of her, “Isn’t it a bit of a waste to pay money to not stay there?”

“Oh yeah,” Lisbeth exclaimed vehemently, “Ugh—seriously, which idiot asked for a room?!”

"..." Asuna, Lingyin, and Silica suddenly looked at Dante, then realized what was happening and looked at Lisbeth together.

"..." Lisbeth blinked in surprise, her finger trembling as she pointed to herself. "It's not me, is it?"

"Didn't you say you wanted me to demonstrate how to unlock it, Liz?" Dante chuckled, tilting his head and teasingly asking.

"But...but..." Lisbeth moved her mouth but couldn't speak, as if, perhaps, maybe it really was her.

"Let's come in and take a look first." Mite sighed, then walked to the door, pushed it open, and went inside.

The presidential suite at the "Horseshoe Pavilion" boasts a spacious living room and two bedrooms, making it extremely luxurious. Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that it also includes a simple kitchen and bathroom.

Asuna glanced briefly at the bathroom door, but having bathed with everyone yesterday in a tub filled with floating fruit and bunches of herbs, her desire to take a bath seemed to be quite stable. So, she casually glanced at the bathroom and closed the door.

"No wonder it costs 300 corks a night for a room," Dante remarked, gazing at the view of the South Street of Starkion through the large windows.

"That's why I recommend it," Mite laughed.

"But there are only two beds." By this time, Silica had finished exploring the bedroom.

"What should we do?" Lisbeth hesitated for a moment about wanting to return to "Karuluin," so she asked for everyone's opinion.

“Since Mitt can pick locks, you can stay here for the night.” Dante waved his hand and said, “I’m going back to Karuruin.”

"No way!" Asuna pointed a finger. "Karuruin's room is only forty kor a night, so it's not a waste even if no one stays there. And if we don't experience the city's hotels now, we might never have the chance again."

Her point was that no one should be left behind, and she felt it was unfair to the person who was left out, especially since they weren't short of money.

"That's Asuna's style," Mito thought with a helpless smile. "Then I'll book another room next door with Silica, Lingyin, and Liz."

"Okay, that's settled." Asuna, hands on her hips and a smile on her face, nodded and made her decision.

"I have no objection." Dante raised both hands in agreement as Asuna looked at him.

-----------------

As dusk fell, the "Town of Beginnings" resembled a colossal beast about to fall into slumber. Players, weary from a day's work, hurried along the stone-paved streets, rarely speaking loudly.

The only bustling area right now is the commercial street, which is never quiet until late at night.

The NPC craftsmen are still busy at work, and the smell of leather and the sound of blacksmiths' hammers have not yet subsided at this time.

Many busy players come here to spend the Cor they earn in a day in a planned way, and going to the item shop to replenish potions is an essential daily activity for all players who go out of the city to fight.

Finally, a player discovered a stack of papers that had never appeared before on the shelf of the item shop, next to the "Argonauts Strategy Guide - First Floor" which could be obtained for free.

"This is..." He walked over curiously, only to be startled by the title on the paper: "Shocking! The Strategy Group Guild 'Eternal Garden' broke through to the fifth floor at 4 PM."

Huh? I've already cleared the fifth floor.

Is this a newspaper? There are newspapers in SAO?

Muttering to himself, the player picked up the newspaper, the Argonautical Weekly.

Wow—this is a newspaper published by the author of the strategy guide! That's amazing.

It wasn't free, so he paid Ke'er casually, because the headline he'd just read was a bit puzzling.

He then glanced at the headlines of the newspaper, "Hmm...hmm...hmm, hmm—hmm?"

With an incredulous look on his face, he squinted, wiped his eyes with his hand, and then brought the newspaper closer.

"Hey!!!" A particularly loud voice came from the prop shop, attracting passersby to stop and watch.

Suddenly, the player stretched out his arm, removed the newspaper, and looked on with shock that was hard to look at.

"what?"

"what happened?"

"...No." The player who made the sound put his hand to his mouth, looking philosophically thoughtful. "Wait, let me double-check."

A few seconds later, he gasped, "Hiss—"

As this action occurred, other players also noticed the newspapers on the nearby shelf...

Then a shocking piece of news spread rapidly through Aincrad.

Chapter 136: The Most Active Guild

The wooden stairs made a slight thud under the feet of the two-handed swordsman, mixed with the crisp sound of leather boots and iron buckles hitting the wooden steps.

When the door to the room at the end of the third-floor corridor was pushed open, Lind looked up at Hafner as he saw him arrive.

"You're the last one to arrive."

This was not an accusation, but merely a statement, and a gesture to the other person to close the door and sit down quickly.

"Sorry." Hafnarak entered the room and sat down on the sofa at the back.

The two single sofas and one long sofa were now full of people. Including Hafner, who arrived late, there were seven people in total. These were all the Lind faction cadres of the Aincrad United Army.

After sitting down on the single sofa opposite Lind, Hafner passed the things he had bought to the others, while those furthest away simply slid across the low table.

"This is the latest issue of the 'Argo Weekly'."

Although it's called the latest issue, it's actually only the second issue, but almost no one doubts the credibility of this newspaper.

Thanks to Argo's moderately good but not bad reputation, the frontline players all knew his credibility and thought that the newspaper would continue to be published without any surprises, which is why Hafner used "latest issue" to describe it.

For other players, the sudden appearance of the newspaper, followed by a second issue four days later in the second week, was nothing short of a surprise.

In the entertainment-scarce floating city of Aincrad, the existence of a document that reveals things happening on the front lines that most players are unaware of, along with other intelligence and gossip, is certainly something to be happy about.