Shino let me go and put her hand on my shoulder.
"You are not like Vassago Casals or Kibaou. Of course, the power you have is very powerful and if you are not careful, you can lose control. I have been able to use it, and I have saved and protected many people .From now on, I will continue to protect our other players. That’s right, Kirito.”
Indeed, so far I've mastered Lilan's power, worked hard to master it, fought a lot of boss fights, and worked hard to not let everyone around me die. And I also promised that I will continue to protect Shino in this world and even after returning to reality.
"That's right. I kept fighting, thinking I wanted to protect everyone, and I wanted to protect you."
"Then you should keep doing it, that's how you should do it."
Shino gently moved her hands to her cheeks, stroking them calmly. I felt like I was surrounded by warmth, a feeling that was completely opposite to the uncomfortable feeling I had felt before.
"...Now, you had a scary dream and you're surprised because you've had a scary experience. That's why the next time you wake up, you'll be fine. You shouldn't be like that again Anxious. World"
"Maybe so"
"Let's go back to sleep. I'm sure you'll be fine in the morning."
I nodded, but I still felt a little uneasy. I thought if I fell asleep I would have another nightmare.
\"Hey Shino, can you, Yui and Lilan sleep in the same bed with me?
"OK."
Shino smiled softly. Seeing this scene, I got out of bed, climbed onto the bed where Yui and Lilan were sleeping, and slid my body into the bed. Immediately afterwards, Shino slid her body in front of me, and Yui, Lilan, and Shino formed a river. The bed Yui uses is very warm and comforting because Yui is already there.
"Yui, I hope you won't be surprised when you wake up."
"Don't be surprised; on the contrary, you may find yourself sleeping with us before you know it, and you may be delighted."
“In that case, that’s fine too”
Seeing Yui's cute sleeping face and the smile of my beloved Shino, I fell into madness, but when I regained consciousness, I heard the breathing of Lilan, who was the first to worry about me. When I felt the warmth, my consciousness suddenly faded and my eyelids suddenly became heavy.
"My power is not just for killing people and monsters." I will use this power to protect everyone and let them return to the real world safely.
With this thought in his mind, his consciousness fell into a deep sleep.
After waking up with Shino, Yui, and Reilan, I felt refreshed. As Shino said, I didn't wake up from a nightmare. Well, I don’t quite remember what the dream was about.
"But when I woke up, I was a little surprised." The time was still five-thirty, and I got up two hours earlier than Shino and Yui. And I felt refreshed and awake, so I didn't think I could go back to sleep.
"Will you wake up?"
I got out of bed in a low voice without making any sound, and went down to the first floor. This Aincrad recreates the early morning sunrise in May.
I walked to the window, stretched out in the sunshine on the side of the mountain, and sat down on my usual sofa. As usual, Shino and the others showed no sign of waking up. I'm considering doing it, but I'm not in the mood to pretend, and I'm not in the mood to sleep.
If possible, I'd like to make breakfast for them when they wake up, but I won't make any breakfast. After all, I had to ask Shino to cook a delicious meal, and I felt a little frustrated for some reason.
"what should I do"
As I rested my elbows on the arm of the couch and put my palms on my hands, my mind filled with fog. The image of Lilan's uncontrollable dream that I had seen before - or rather in the dead of night - flashed by, which surprised me. i still can't forget
"Think about it, why do I have such a dream?" I don't have much anxiety about Lilan, and I don't intend to let Lilan do anything wrong from now on. Do you still have the impression of killing "Smiling Coffin"?
The image of the destruction of the "Smiling Coffin" was so shocking that it stayed in my mind forever and made me feel that my life was in danger. The sense of crisis at that time has been lingering in my heart. Did it sound a wake-up call for me? If so, that dream
“Sometimes like this”
I wanted to find someone to talk to, but there were surprisingly few people around me. Diabell and Asuna seemed to be busy with the strategy meeting of the Holy Dragon Alliance and the Blood Oath Knights, while Shino, Yui, and Lilan were always The person listening to me is sleeping. I couldn't speak because I was trapped. Even so, if they wait until they wake up, this unpleasant feeling will somehow get bigger.
(Ah, that’s it)
"It's Alice." Alice is Shino Shino's most trusted psychiatrist, one of the developers of this game, and Yui's biological mother. Maybe Alice can figure out the reason for Lelan's rampage and the source of this unpleasant feeling.
"Alice, are you awake?"
Because Alice is the director of a children's shelter church, she may wake up unexpectedly early and prepare for various things. No, I may be busy, but I should be able to book a consultation.
I immediately opened the message window, wrote a letter to Alice, and then typed the text using the optical keyboard. "Good morning, if you have time this morning, I would like to invite you to meet with me, is that okay?"
I thought she might wake up early since she's the hospital director, but Alice is human too, so she might not be awake at this time. I'm sure it will take over 2 hours for me to receive a reply to my message.
As soon as I thought of this, I received the news, and I almost fell on the sofa. Wondering what was going on or who it was from, I opened the message window and found the letters "Alice". is she awake?
"let's see"
Expand the message window and examine the text inside.
"Good morning. You got up early, didn't you? I just woke up and Sasha and the kids are sleeping, so I'm free. If it's not inconvenient, I don't mind if you come to the first floor now.\"
It seems that there is no problem for Alice to consult at this time. I thought he was busy because he was a director, but I was surprised and a little disappointed by how freely he spoke. But it would be nice if I could consult.
Shino and the others woke up after 7:30. If they came back within two hours, they wouldn't be angry or worried.
"Let's walk for a minute."
Whispering, I put on my resort clothes, a gray T-shirt and black pants, walked out the front door, crossed the fields, came to a town that was the equivalent of a village, passed through the portal, and flew to the first level of nostalgia.
The one-story city "Arhan, City of Origins" is characterized by stone buildings and trees lining the streets. When I arrived at the transfer gate, I couldn't help but be surprised. The last time I came here, it was like a deserted ghost town, but now, even though it was early in the morning, there were a lot of people and adventurers coming and going, as well as street vendors. And, speaking of vendors, all of them are players whose business skills seem to have improved.
(real)
Before, it was like a dictatorship ruled by an army of gangsters. However, Zink and Uriel disbanded and rebuilt the army, driving out Kibaou and other thieves, and not only Kibaou and other thieves died. Although unscrupulous, it freed this first-tier city from military oppression and brought it back to life. If that's the case, it's safe to say this is a town where kids can spend time easily.
“This is what the city looked like after liberation.”
While muttering, I walked happily through the lively town to the church run by Alice. After passing through the crowds of people and being greeted by the vendors, I quickly arrived in front of the church. Normally I could hear the noisy children inside, but now it was completely silent.
I walked into the church expecting it to be quiet early in the morning and walked through the quiet hallways so as not to wake the children and other kindergarten teachers. By secretly turning the Enemy Search skill, I was able to detect the presence of a player from within.
\"Alice-san, I am Kirito.\"
Dong Dong, I knocked on the door gently, and there was a response from inside.
\"Come in, Kirito-kun.\"
The familiar female voice was that of Sinon's specialist, Alice. Judging from the news, he seems to have woken up.
"excuse me"
When you open the door and enter the room, the first thing you see is a set of antique furniture, which can be said to be the biggest feature of Alice's room. Its chic, old-fashioned look makes me feel like this room is a different place, a step back in time to a bygone era. Among them, there is a bed that seems to have been used in the West in the past, and there is also the figure of Alice, today's target. but....
"Well"
"Alice is wearing underwear." No, to be precise, she put on something similar to a white dress over her underwear, but the fabric was so thin that it looked translucent, and both the underwear and Alice's body lines were clearly visible. Moreover, the color of Alice's underwear is red. Mixed with the white dress, it looks like a reddish pink. No matter how you look at it, if a man sees this set of clothes, he will definitely be amazed. It seemed that I was one of them. The saliva overflowed from my mouth in the blink of an eye, and I swallowed it immediately.
\"Yes, Alice-san.\"
When I walked into the room, Alice was wearing almost nothing but her underwear and she turned to face me. Maybe it's because I woke up, but I feel like I'm looking very good.
\"Good morning, Kirito-kun. I didn't expect you to send me a message at this time. Thanks to this, I greeted you in my pajamas.\"
\"Yes, sorry. I didn't expect Alice-san to wake up so early.\"
“I just woke up a little earlier today.
"Is that so? Or do you always sleep like this?"
Alice looked at her body and nodded.
"Yeah, but what's the problem?"
\"Wearing that outfit, you can almost see your underwear, can't you? Even though Alice-san is in charge of a church with children, isn't it?
I felt my face turn red and I wanted to look away. However, when I reluctantly held back and turned my face to Alice, I saw a mischievous expression.
\"What's wrong, Kirito-san? Are you excited to see my body?\"
"It's not like that."
"Haha" laughed, Alice opened the item window, operated the equipment model, and clicked the "OK" button. Immediately afterwards, Alice's outfit changed into the one I usually saw, and my attention shifted to it.
"Honestly, I only wore that outfit when I was on the futon. I have to apologize."
With that said, Alice stood up, clicked on the item window, walked to the table in the center of the room, and sat on the sofa. Soon after, a teapot and teacup appeared near the center of the table. Alice picked up the pot and poured it into the cups. The orange-red tea poured out from the mouth of the pot with a "pop" sound. When the tea reached one-eighth of the cup, Alice stopped tilting the pot and used her remaining hand to push the cup to the opposite side.
"Come, sit down. This is tea, can you drink it?"
“I would enjoy having this”
While answering Alice's words, I sat down on the sofa in front of Alice, holding the tea cup, enjoying the fragrance of the tea, and drinking the tea. I usually drink coffee, but maybe because of that, the aroma and taste of black tea feel somewhat elegant.
\"Then Kirito-kun, what's going on?\"
"Oh, yes. Actually, I had a nightmare last night."
"nightmare.
"Uh, how do you know?"
"For you, it must have been a nightmare battle. Moreover, you were on the back of the violent Lilan and were swayed by the violent Lilan. You could only watch him repeat the slaughter. Most likely, I think That time was like a dream.”
As expected of a psychosomatic medicine teacher and psychologist, he was able to guess my dreams from recent events.
"Yes. I had a dream that I was fighting a boss. When I jumped on Lilan's back, Lilan went into a rage and killed everyone around him."
Alice nodded slightly.
"Well, you're worried that Lilan's power will get out of control."
"do you understand?"
"People tend to worry that after going through a terrible situation, something similar will happen again. You are one of those people. I thought I might do that.
I'm here. "
"That's right." Even after waking up from the nightmare and talking to Shino, the lump of uneasiness in my heart showed no signs of disappearing. The next time Lilan and the human-dragon become one, Lilan will probably go on a rampage and kill everyone like he did with the Smiling Coffin.
“I myself want to believe in Lilan, and I also believe in Lilan.
"I get it, anxiety and fear, if there's a way out of it, there's one."
"That is?"
"Honestly, bring Lilan to the court, jump on his back, and try to get a move together. Since you're afraid of Lilan losing control, you have to realize that there's no chance of that. Yuiichi's way of doing it Just do exactly what you've been doing and try. If nothing happens, the fear in you goes away. It'll be fine to run again."
"Can it be replayed? Is that okay?"
Alice put her hand to her cheek.
"I don't know. First, I have to find out why Lilan loses control, but I don't know the reason. I'm looking for a way to find out, so now, I will make sure that Lilan doesn't lose control. Then you can rest assured "Even so, I didn't notice anything unusual about the baby when she woke up, so I thought she was going to be fine."
Alice sighed softly and smiled at me.
"Moreover, you were not swayed by the violent Lilan. You persisted until the end and finally stopped Lilan, didn't you? At that time, I thought you should stop it, what do you think?"
"Indeed, I attacked with all my strength and prevented the replay." But it just happened to go well. If it happens again, I am not guaranteed to be able to stop it, and it is even possible that the furious Lilan will kill me before then.
"It just happened to go well so I could do it again"
\"Fumu, I know you're worried because there are so many things you don't understand. But, Kirito-kun, isn't Lilan your best partner? Despite what happened to him there, he still believes in you. That's the kind of girl she is. I think it's the worst pattern and you can't believe this."
Alice covered my hand with her own.
"Instead of regretting not believing, believing and then regretting. That's what you say to everyone when you try to rescue the Thinker. Don't trust your partner, and instead of regretting getting into a terrible situation, be yourself." Better to trust a trust your partner and regret it after a terrible experience, no?
I was taken aback by Alice's words. Yes, even after everything that happened, Lelan still believed in me and he still believed in me. But I couldn't believe Lilan because I thought he would do that again.
"I'm sure we will be participating in a boss battle from now on." The powerful power possessed by Lilan has helped and protected many capture groups so far. If I didn't use Lilan's powers because I was afraid of making Lilan mad, it would cause more harm than if Lilan went mad, and I might kill the very people I was supposed to protect.
"So I can't believe Lilan. But Lilan always believes in me."
\"That's right. So don't be afraid, Kirito-kun. I believe Lilan is fine now. Just try riding on her back to release your power. She will definitely answer you if you believe in you.\"
When Alice smiled, the lingering anxiety in her that had grown suddenly large seemed to dissipate, like a fog lifting. If it were now, I wouldn't be afraid of Lilan. Even if I'm riding on Lilan's back, I think I can fight like normal.
\"Thank you, thank you Alice-san. Somehow, I feel that I can trust Lilan.\"
\"I can believe it. After all, I am a child who has fought with you to this day and climbed to Aincrad to this day.\"
As she said that, Alice smiled again. When you get home, trust Lilan and try jumping on his back again. If nothing else, I have to apologize to Lilan for my suspicions.
"But after that, I thought about something." Alice is a former employee of Argus and the programmer who created Yui and other mhcp (mhhp sealed in this world). perhaps....
\"Well, Alice-san.\"
\"What's wrong, Kirito-san? Are you still worried?\"
"No, Alice, do you know who Lilan is?"
I told Alice all the mysteries I'd always wanted to know about Lelan. Alice kept listening, and when I finished, she finally spoke.
"Understands the story as if he has a heart, sometimes heals the player, gets emotional, fights together...I think again, he's a kid with a very advanced artificial intelligence. Hey Lelan
Alice raised her head slightly and put her hand on her chin.
"As far as I know, it is very similar to the mhcp pattern I made. However, this possibility is extremely low."
"How can you say that?"
"Indeed, mhcp was created on the basis of mhhp, so it has the ability to learn and the ability to imitate emotions. However, the models we prepared are all humanoid. But you are Lilan, you know, it is a dragon type.
"Then Lilan can't be mhcp"
"Ah. At first you said that "Lilan" was likened to an event mission character, but that may not be the case. The planners and designers said that they placed some event missions like big missions in other games. I think I did."
"do not you know?"
"I don't know. Others were doing test games and I was too busy making mhhp and mhcp to have time to do it. Designers and programmers secretly create advanced AI and then do you set it up as a grand mission level event mission character ?”
Of course, this game was originally made as an ordinary mmoRpG, so it is not surprising to have such event missions. It's like a mission though, and like Lilan, will it use super advanced AI to the point where it can rival mhcp? If you do, reality will set in, but if you ask me if I need to go that far...
"She seems to have lost her memory. Why don't you continue to force her to regain her memory? That's all I can say."
\"Is that so? I thought Alice-san could understand, but it seems that I can only find a way on my own.\"
"Yes, thinking and reasoning are important. Well, it seems you have overcome your concerns."
"Yes, thank you. But I have one more thing to ask."
"what is it"
"I told Alice something I've been hiding inside for a long time."
\"Miss Alice, why have you been following Shino Shino? Generally speaking, I think counselors or psychiatrists treat any type of patient equally\"
The next moment, Alice lowered her head. However, I can see the mouth, and I can see the corners of the mouth gradually rising.
\"Why do I keep following Shino?\"
Alice raised her head as she spoke. Her face was as charming as ever, with a somewhat suspicious smile on her face. With this face, Alice suddenly came to the sofa where I was lying on her stomach and crawled towards me. I felt an illusion of slippery air entering my heart from this sudden movement.
Alice's big breasts were closing in on me, but her face was even more stunning than that.
"I saw her because I liked her."
"I like you...?"
"I like that girl as much as you do. It's great that such an innocent girl could kill someone with a pistol. No matter where you look for a girl in Japan, there is only that girl Shino."
"Alice put your face close to mine." Alice's strange-smelling breath hit my face.
\"How would such a girl's appearance reflect in your eyes? Hello, Kirito?\"
"Never." Is this why you look at Shino, Shino? Since Shino is a so-called murderer who kills people with a pistol, will she be attracted to her and care about her that much?
Alice heard that Serizawa is Shino's most trusted doctor, but he himself!
\"Why did you choose Shino, Shino!?\"
When I accidentally expressed my anger, Alice left me without saying anything and stood up from the couch. Then he turned around. Her face became calmer than before.
"Sorry to surprise you. Half true, half lie."
Alice looked out the window. I felt that his eyes were looking at Shino on the twenty-second floor.
"Although she acted in self-defense, she shot a man and left a huge scar in her heart. Shino was the most severely symptomatic of the patients who came to see me. Maybe it's because she has such a peculiar past, to the point where she was emotionally traumatized and I felt for her.”
"Alice turned to me."
“Typically, counselors and psychosomatic doctors try not to empathize with their patients.
\"But I can't do this to Shino.\" When I heard about the child's past, I immediately understood that this child was different from ordinary patients. I ended up being disqualified as a counselor and I felt the same way. But I don’t regret being able to sympathize with her and be friends with her. "
Alice chuckled. Her smile was no longer the same as before, but cheerful.
\"Having said that, she still found someone important and I will not allow Kirito-kun to make her sad or hurt her heart.\"
"Yes"
\"As long as you understand. Then, Kirito-san, this exam is over. Please return to Sinon as soon as possible.\"
I left Alice's room in an almost empty state, but immediately started thinking about the relationship between Shino and Alice. The reason why Shino becomes attached to Alice is because Alice is a doctor who sympathizes with Shino. So far, he had only spoken politely to the doctor, so the presence of Alice who sympathized with him must have been the warmest thing for Shino.
Yet, at the time, as Alice approached me, her face seemed too real to me. I immediately deny that this statement is a lie, but
(Really, who is that person? Is that face really fake?)
While thinking about this, I left the church and headed to the portal to return to the second floor. By then, my fear of Lelan was completely gone.
