Why did Hikigaya save the anime girls in Sword Story?

"The starting point of the mission seems to be a place called Lost in the Misty Forest."

"According to Kirito-kun, we will encounter a battle between forest elves and dark elves."

"After selecting a camp, when the HP is less than half, the friendly NPC will defeat the opponent with miracle power, but will also die."

"That means both sides will die..."

"Send dropped items to the selected faction's base"

"What does choosing a faction affect?"

"I don't know either"

When we arrived at our destination, two NPCs were fighting with a mission start mark [!] above their heads.

Forest elves are male, while dark elves are... female.

"Hachiman-kun"

"You're going to help the Dark Elves, right? Helping a man in this situation always feels..."

"Thank you!"

When the two jumped out, the mark above the NPC's head changed and became: [? ]

"I can't believe there are still humans in the forest!"

"who are you?"

The two men said nothing, turned their backs to the dark elves, and aimed their weapons at the forest elves.

After intervening in the battle, the pointer on the forest elf's head turns a deep red, almost pitch black - this is a sign of a powerful enemy that far exceeds the player's strength.

"How dare you be with the Dark Elf! Become the soul that falls under my sword!"

"You're the one who's going to die!"

(Asuna is incredibly passionate...)

"Hey, Asuna. Defend, defend."

"I got it, Hachiman. I will definitely defend to the end!"

(Really? I think we need to take this seriously... If we slack off, we'll definitely be wiped out quickly.)

And about ten minutes later... the forest elf turned into a ray of light and disappeared before their eyes.

“I actually won…”

"As expected of Hachiman-kun, who specializes in dealing with humanoid monsters."

"Well, I was really desperate..."

"Thank you both for your cooperation."

The two of them turned around suddenly to see who was calling them.

The sign above is [?] and the mission appears to be going well.

The cursor changes color to yellow, indicating that this is a friendly NPC.

"My name is Kizmel. Thanks to you, I was able to guard the key."

The owner of the voice introduced herself, then carefully picked up the cloth bag that the forest elf had dropped. She held it to her chest and whispered softly.

"This way, the cathedral is protected for the time being."

Her eyes seemed to hide a variety of emotions.

"Thank you again. The commander will give you a reward. Please follow us back to camp."

"We accept your suggestion."

"Uh, Asuna, you have to clearly tell the NPC whether it's YES or NO..."

"Okay, then I'll show you around. Follow me."

Hearing Asuna's answer, Hachiman wanted to correct her, but...

To his surprise, Kizmel seemed to fully understand what Asuna had said.

Led by Kizmel, the two headed to the dark elves' camp.

At the same time, a message notification appeared: You have a new team member joining, Kizmel has become a team member.

The two were surprised to find that Kizmel looked exactly like a player.

She invited the two to the Dark Elf Camp. Shockingly, Kizmel's AI performed just like a real person, not only understanding natural conversations but also instantly killing monsters along the way.

"Hachiman-kun, I don't know much about this, but is this something that can be achieved through programming?"

"I was surprised too... It's like a high-performance AI. Or at least that's the only scenario I can imagine."

"It's amazing... He's just like a normal person."

In this way, the three of them soon arrived at the dark elves' camp.

SAO: Chapter 21: Bathing in a Hot Spring

The two men who were brought to the camp were quickly introduced to the commander.

The commander's tent was shrouded in a solemn atmosphere, with dark elf guards standing guard in front, holding naginatas.

"Hachiman-kun, we won't be attacked here, right?"

"It should be fine. Speaking of which, even though this is a temporary dungeon map, it's ridiculously large."

"Copy... copy?"

"It's a temporary map created for this kind of activity. In short, it was forcibly moved to an isolated area."

"So what we're on now isn't strictly speaking the third floor?"

"That's right, other players will definitely not be able to enter."

The two were then taken into the commander's tent.

"Thank you for saving my compatriots, the children of the human race. I would like to express my sincere gratitude."

The commander spoke solemnly, displaying several items as rewards. After much hesitation, the two men finally chose the light armor that hadn't been updated in a while.

"And this. Anyone holding this ring can enter and leave this camp freely."

The commander handed over two rings engraved with the dark elf emblem.

Without thinking, Hachiman was about to put it on his left ring finger, but suddenly noticed Asuna who was also struggling with which finger to put it on, and he immediately panicked.

(I actually wanted to wear a couple's ring on my ring finger... I'd better play it safe and wear it on my index finger... Yeah, this is just a prop for an event. I absolutely can't be shy.)

Hachiman thought so and put the ring on the index finger of his left hand. Whether it was imitation or coincidence, Asuna also put it on the index finger of her left hand.

Seeing Asuna's unconcern, Hachiman breathed a sigh of relief and continued to listen to the commander's words. A [?] symbol appeared above the commander's head, suggesting a new mission was about to begin.

"Please rest in this tent today. It may be a little cramped."

The mission seems to begin tomorrow. The two had intended to return to the city, but Kizmel persuaded them to stay at the camp. I heard there's a bathhouse here (Part 3) Hissing, Painted, and Woken IV Scars seemed to have played a decisive role.

(Sharing a tent together...we need a screen to separate us)

The tent they were taken to was said to be small and cramped, but it was actually quite spacious. Asuna wanted to chat with Kizmel, so she asked Hachiman to go take a bath first.

Hachiman obediently took the bath first. It was a long time since he had last taken a bath. Although he didn't need to, he still liked to take a bath every now and then. Hachiman thoroughly enjoyed the long-awaited hot spring and relaxed his body and mind.

After getting out of the bath, he was in a good mood and was about to take out his usual drink when Asuna, who was chatting with Kizmel, noticed him and asked for it. He had no choice but to take out another bottle and hand it to her.

"You and Kizmel are getting along better."

"Ok!"

"Then I'll go sleep in the corner over there. Asuna, take a bath and rest."

"I know! Good night, Hachiman-kun."

"Ah, good night."

Hachiman put up a screen beside the bed, lay down and began to think about what happened today.

(I'm not sure if this is a normal quest route...it might be a special scenario, or a hidden scenario. I'll have to wait until I see Kirito and the others who have advanced to the game to confirm it.)

He fell asleep thinking about this, and didn't even notice Asuna tucked him in after getting out of the bath. He just fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, Kizmel came to wake them up. Seeing Kizmel's face clearly for the first time in the bright light, Hachiman couldn't help but stare at her in amazement, realizing once again that Kizmel was very beautiful and had a great figure.

"Where are you looking at, Hachiman-kun?"

"Morning, morning..."

"Humph~"

Perhaps because they had had enough rest, the two of them set out on their mission immediately, feeling refreshed.

It is said that there is a sacred tree in the west, and the second secret key is hidden in its roots.

“It’s easy, but it feels like cheating…”

"However, this can be considered a reward for yesterday's hard work."

“That’s true.”

When Hachiman saw the sacred tree from afar, he noticed a figure that looked like a forest elf approaching.

"Kizmel, is that an enemy?"

"Yeah, that's bad. The key must not be taken away. Run!"

The three of them ran as fast as they could, and the enemy seemed to have noticed and started to sprint.

"I'll hold him back, and then I'll fight and retreat. You guys go get the key first."

"Okay, leave it to us."

"Don't be so stubborn, Hachiman-kun."

Hachiman didn't realize that he had naturally started a conversation with Kizmel.

In fact, Kizmel never showed any characteristics of an NPC, and at this moment the two of them did not regard her as a program at all.

"Hachiman-kun found it!"

After confirming that Asuna had obtained the key (or the system had determined it was complete), the enemy retreated.

"Phew, I'm so lucky we didn't fight."

"Yeah, the kind of cooperation we had yesterday might not be possible again."

"Something seems to have fallen near the enemy."

"Is this...a key?"

At the moment of picking up, Kizmel spoke:

"Wait a moment, I can sense the presence of my compatriots."

A [!] symbol appeared above her head. This key seemed to be a side quest item. Following the instructions, she arrived at a certain location and found a small keyhole in a tree.

“It seems to be this key.”

After inserting the key, a cave appeared in the ground, and Kizmel's acquaintance was rescued. This completed the side quest. Although I don't know what the purpose of this quest is, it was surprisingly easy to complete.

"Looks like we'll need a little more time before the next mission begins. Should we go check out the street vendors? There seems to be a weapons shop as well."

"Okay, if you can find good stuff, you'll make money."

The two spent their free time exploring the campground.

There, the two discovered some strange equipment that was out of place in the situation.

"Hey...isn't this a swimsuit?"

(. 29 Ni: Liu 9 Yi? - 38 Liu "It's too abrupt to show up in this place."

"There's obviously something wrong."

"Perhaps this mission will require diving later? Let's buy it first."