Chapter 16: You are the famous

"Miss, my name is Yu Shengzai. I suppose you could say I'm the friend who grew up with this guy.

Kirito's friends are my friends. If you want to borrow money, I can offer you the maximum limit.

And when it comes to repayment, whether it's real-world currency or SAO currency, I can accept both."

Although the figure sitting beside Kirito was currently wrapped tightly in a cloak, Shengzai knew the person's identity perfectly well.

Forget about the cloak; even if she weren't wearing it... well, this was the famous "Doujin-Asuna" after all. *Ahem. *

In short, having perused many of her "works," Shengzai recognized her at a glance, even with the cloak obscuring her face and figure.

"You're willing to lend me money? And you'll accept repayment in real-world currency?

Are you so certain that we'll be able to leave this death game later?"

Hearing Shengzai's words, Asuna was quite surprised. Judging by what the others had said, borrowing from Shengzai seemed to come with a certain limit, but she had never heard of being able to repay debts with real-world currency.

If it were within the SAO world, perhaps they could sign a contract to prevent the borrower from defaulting.

But if she could repay the debt with real-world currency, it meant she could wait until they returned to the real world to settle the account.

But once she returned to the real world, wasn't he afraid she would just default on the debt?

One had to know that contracts in the game world held no binding power once they were able to return to the real world.

"That's why I said just now: Kirito's friends are my friends.

Since we're friends, naturally I have to treat you specially. You can borrow as much as you want, provided it's within my means.

As for your second question, my answer is that we will definitely clear this game and return to the real world.

Don't ask me why I'm so confident, because if even I don't have that conviction, then whether or not the money I lend out can be recovered doesn't matter anymore, does it?"

Jokes aside, Shengzai knew that Asuna was a proper wealthy young lady in the real world; the possibility of her defaulting was infinitely close to zero.

As for why he was so certain they would return, that was another redundant question, because he was a transmigrator.

Of course, the rhetoric Shengzai gave now also convinced Asuna, leading her to believe that Shengzai was doing this to provide himself with a conviction to persist.

She, Asuna, understood this feeling; after all, when she was first trapped in the game, she had also gone through a period of such confusion.

If one doesn't know how to persist, then one simply creates a conviction to persist.

In Asuna's eyes, Shengzai lending so much money to others and living to return to the real world to collect debts was the motivation and conviction they needed to persist.

And in Kirito's eyes, Shengzai doing this was entirely to save face for him, which gave him a tiny bit of guilt for having just backstabbed his close friend... oh, no, his "dear friend."

As for Shengzai's inner thoughts: *A rare "fat sheep"... a wealthy woman. Asuna is different from a pauper like Kirito. If I don't take this opportunity to make a killing, I'd be doing a disservice to myself. *

In a restaurant in Tolbana, watching Asuna and Kirito devouring their food, Shengzai, who sat opposite them, was utterly speechless.

"So, you wanted to borrow money from me just to have a good meal?"

Looking at Asuna, who was wearing a cloak and eating in a way that didn't look like a young lady at all, Shengzai was extremely speechless.

A few minutes ago, Shengzai had thought he could lend a huge sum to Asuna and make a killing in the real world.

But to his utter surprise, instead of using the money to strengthen herself and increase her survival rate in this world, she had used it solely to have a good meal.

"Even if I get killed now, I'll have no regrets..."

Watching Asuna, who had finally had a full meal—eating enough for several people without batting an eye—Shengzai's mouth twitched.

He felt that the "Doujin-Asuna" in front of him seemed a bit different from the one in his impression.

Asuna was a foodie; that did seem to be a setting, but he hadn't heard she could eat *this* much.

Seeing Shengzai's twitching mouth, Asuna, who had finally had her fill, realized that her behavior just now did seem a bit unrefined.

If she were at home, her family would certainly have scolded her for such table manners.

But this was a game, and Shengzai and Kirito were people she had only met today, so Asuna obviously gave up on appearances: "Hmph, if you had eaten that hard-as-a-rock, tasteless black bread every day for a month, you'd know how I feel.

And although you can lend me a lot of money, I'm actually only just acquainted with the friend you mentioned."

As a young lady of the Yuuki family, Asuna was not only full of self-discipline but also very well-bred.

If it weren't for the black bread that tasted like a rag for a whole month, Asuna, with her upbringing, wouldn't even have opened her mouth to borrow money from others.

In SAO, besides the combat mechanics, there were also life mechanics to make it more realistic.

If a character didn't rest for a long time, they would accumulate fatigue.

Similarly, if they didn't eat regularly, they would receive a "satiety" warning.

Once "satiety" dropped below a critical point, the character would continuously lose HP and eventually die.

The cheapest food in the game currently was the black bread Asuna had mentioned; while it provided a certain amount of "satiety," the taste was terrible, like chewing on a rag.

Kirito was one thing, but Asuna was originally a pampered young lady, and since she loved food, eating that tasteless black bread for a month was undoubtedly a form of torture for her.

So, after borrowing money from Shengzai, the first thing she did wasn't to buy equipment, but to go straight to a restaurant.

And she was extremely generous, inviting Shengzai and Kirito, who had just become her creditor and teammate, to join her.

Because it was full-dive, the five senses were controlled by the brain, so naturally, taste could be restored in SAO; this was the reason for Asuna's exclamation just now.

"Shengzai, do you think this raid operation will go smoothly?"

After eating and drinking his fill, Kirito seriously brought up the matter he was most concerned about.

(End of Chapter)