Seeing the shocked expressions on the group, Nirrnir slowly nodded and continued, “Ever since the high temperatures arrived two days ago, I’ve been searching through my family’s archives for any similar records, but unfortunately, I’ve found nothing so far.”
She picked up a glass of red wine infused with “Snowtree Buds” from the coffee table and took a small sip, then rubbed her forehead with a slightly tired expression.
“I also checked the archives over at Nactoy’s, but there were no clues there either. We were able to deduce that the heat source is in the sea thanks to Huazo—he noticed the unusual water levels while patrolling; otherwise, we would have had no leads at all.”
After speaking, Nirrnir gently swirled the wine in her glass and looked at Akimi and the others with a serious expression.
After a brief silence, she added, “Although some time has passed since our last commission… I believe you can be trusted—”
At this point, Akimi and the others understood Nirrnir’s meaning—not so much from the nuance of her words, but because of the conspicuous exclamation mark that had suddenly appeared above her head.
“Hmm—at this point, refusing would seem rather unkind,” Akimi said with a helpless smile, then unhesitatingly accepted Nirrnir’s commission.
After accepting the task, the three of them immediately opened the quest interface, hoping to extract some information from the description.
Unfortunately, the description contained only one line: “Help Nirrnir investigate the source of the heat under the sea.”
The only useful information, ironically, was the quest’s name—The Day of Sunken Depths.
Looking at this rather ominous quest name, Akimi scratched his head and said, “Given the current situation, the name seems to be quite literal.”
“Indeed. If there really is a sun beneath the sea, it wouldn’t be surprising for it to have this effect,” Kirito shrugged in response.
“You could even say this sun isn’t doing so well—it didn’t instantly incinerate all of Aincrad.”
Hearing Kirito’s words, Akimi twitched the corner of his mouth and nudged him with his elbow, saying, “You really have an imagination, huh? But don’t drag all of Aincrad down with you if you decide to die; there are still plenty of players who want to survive.”
Kirito cheekily nudged back, looking exasperated. “I was just saying; you’re the only one who’d take it seriously. You don’t read the room at all—if you were at school, you’d be isolated.”
Like a child, Akimi nudged him back with a smile. “Oh, so you’re saying genius Kirito reads the room well? I bet he’s very popular at school.”
“…At least more than you!”
After a brief silence, Kirito shot back, though his tone lacked a bit of confidence.
Watching the two of them childishly spar, Asuna pursed her lips and decided to ignore them.
Yes, she’d just pretend she didn’t know them.
Thinking this, Asuna turned her attention fully to discussing the next steps with Nirrnir.
“You’ve really worked hard, Asuna,” Nirrnir said, using her wine glass to hide a slight smile.
“…I’m used to it, Nirrnir,” Asuna replied calmly.
——————-
After a brief discussion, Akimi and the others decided to attempt a dive into the sea to investigate the situation firsthand, and then figure out a solution.
Although SAO doesn’t have a formal swimming skill, it doesn’t forbid players from entering the water.
Swimming, like “wall running,” is considered an out-of-system skill that can be learned through practice.
What surprised them most was how realistic swimming felt in SAO.
Thanks to the NERvGear—patched up as if by Kayaba Akihiko—the behavior of water currents is remarkably close to reality, though minor glitches still occur.
Before diving in, however, preparations had to be made—such as carrying devices that function as oxygen tanks—because drowning under unexpected circumstances would be catastrophic.
Moreover, underwater combat is physically taxing, so Kirito’s fighting ability would be greatly reduced.
While Akimi and Asuna, with the enhancements from Water Breathing, weren’t afraid of fighting in water, even they couldn’t entirely escape the limitations.
To ensure maximum safety, Kirito requested once again to be transformed into a servant of the Night Lord, as this would grant him some powerful buffs.
However, upon hearing the request, Nirrnir displayed that familiar expression of mixed disdain and confusion.
After pondering for a moment, Nirrnir denied Kirito’s request, reasoning that if, as the quest suggested, there really is a sun under the sea, he would be incinerated almost instantly—since sunlight is extremely deadly to the Night Clan.
Rejected, Kirito looked visibly disappointed.
Akimi couldn’t resist teasing him: “Since our dear Black Swordsman enjoys the powerful buffs from being a Night Clan member so much, why did you go to all the trouble of returning to being human in the first place?”
Even the usually serious Nirrnir covered her mouth to chuckle lightly: “Actually, I do have a way to let a servant face sunlight for a short period—Kirito, do you want it?”
“Cough… no, I think I… don’t need it,” Kirito replied, a little embarrassed, coughing lightly.
He then shot a fierce glare at Akimi.
While preparing, Kirito took some time to roughly explain the situation to the members of the Moonlit Black Cats and asked them to rest for the time being at the casino.
Kirito had considered bringing the Moonlit Black Cats along, but since Nirrnir’s quest was limited to just Akimi, Asuna, and himself, he ultimately decided against it.
…
Ever since the idea of carrying something to serve as an oxygen tank came up, Akimi already had a solution in mind—a tool called a Bubble Fruit, originally from the fourth floor, Panareze.
This peculiar fruit is filled with breathable air, and using it is as simple as pulling off the stem at the top.
However, if even a tiny bit is accidentally ingested, it triggers uncontrollable hiccups for a continuous half-hour.
When they had previously cleared the fourth-floor BOSS, many players had already used Bubble Fruits while waiting outside the BOSS room for Argo to open the door and release the massive flood created by the BOSS.
But now there was a problem—neither Akimi, Kirito, nor Asuna had any Bubble Fruits left in their inventory.
Since their practical use was limited and collecting them was extremely troublesome, they had only obtained a few before tackling the fourth-floor BOSS.
Fortunately, this problem was easy enough to solve.
As Akimi thought this through, he flashed Kirito a smile reminiscent of Anya’s.
“Sorry, Kirito, but to complete this quest, I’ll need you to make a little sacrifice.”
He then opened the message interface, clicked a few times, and sent out the message.
— The end of the Chapter–
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