Chapter 261: Sword and Blade World, Plans to Reopen the Sword Technique Dojo

Tokyo City, Wenren Sword Technique Dojo.

Looking at his childhood sweetheart Suguha Kirigaya, who was tidying up the empty lunch box on the table, Shengzai also said with some embarrassment: "Suguha, my body is actually already fine; you don't have to work so hard every day to prepare lunch for me."

Hearing Shengzai's words, Suguha Kirigaya, who was tidying up the empty box, paused, and then her expression also became a bit lonely: "Does Brother Shengzai feel that the lunch Suguha made doesn't suit your taste?"

Looking at the girl's somewhat disappointed expression before him, Shengzai naturally waved his hands repeatedly: "No, no, no, the lunch Suguha made is delicious, it's just that I feel quite embarrassed to keep troubling you like this.

Before, when I was trapped in SAO, I relied on you to take care of me for so long; now that I have woken up, you are still taking care of me so meticulously, making me feel like I'm quite a useless person...

And that guy Kazuto just woke up recently, right? Is it really okay for you to run over to my place every three days?"

For Suguha Kirigaya, Shengzai was truly grateful; even in terms of the depth of emotion, Shengzai felt it was even stronger than Asuna.

Shengzai and Asuna might have had a relationship beyond friends in the game, but that was ultimately only in the game.

Now that they had returned to reality, Shengzai honestly didn't know if Asuna would continue to maintain the relationship she had with him in the game.

Before, he had stepped in to help Asuna solve the matter of Nobuyuki Sugou because of the friendship between the two, and in SAO, Asuna had indeed helped him quite a bit.

As for Suguha Kirigaya, honestly, even if Shengzai were a steel-straight man, he had now vaguely sensed some of the feelings she held for him.

Before, he had only regarded Suguha as a neighbor's little sister who grew up with him, and he thought Suguha should be the same.

But ever since he escaped from SAO this time, Shengzai suddenly discovered that things didn't seem as simple as he had thought.

Because in the year or more that he was trapped in SAO, Suguha had been taking care of him meticulously.

If one were to say that she only regarded him as a "brother," then that would be a bit of a stretch; you have to know that even Suguha's real brother, Kirito, didn't have such treatment.

Hearing Shengzai praise the lunch she made as delicious, the expression on Suguha's face also instantly turned from cloudy to sunny, and then she stood up with her hands on her hips: "Brother Kazuto has Mother to take care of him, so there's no need to worry at all.

And Brother Shengzai's body has only just recovered; if I don't bring lunch every day, I guess you would be eating junk food like instant noodles every three days, right?

Brother Shengzai, who is still in the recovery period, needs to consider the issue of nutrition the most right now."

Regarding Suguha's words, Shengzai was unable to refute; who told him that he was indeed a cooking failure.

If he went to a family restaurant every day, Shengzai's economic ability was limited, and if he didn't order expensive takeout, most of the time, he did indeed rely on instant noodles to solve the problem of food and clothing.

"Then I'll go to school first; when it's evening, I'll come over again. If you have time, Brother Shengzai, you can go to the market to buy some fresh ingredients first."

After Suguha tidied up the lunch box, she didn't give Shengzai any room to refuse and ran downstairs with a "da-da-da-da" sound.

Although the players trapped in SAO had now been able to return to the real world, having been trapped in the game for more than a year, most people were still lying at home recuperating.

Especially among those players trapped in SAO back then, because young people occupied the majority, this also led to the fact that after nearly two years, their progress in their studies had clearly been unable to keep up with students of the same age.

The official side, in order to take care of these SAO players whose academic progress couldn't keep up with their peers, seemed to have specially opened a special school.

But because most SAO players were still in the recovery period, the school had not officially started yet, which also led to the fact that Shengzai, whose body was already fine, was now in a state of doing nothing and being out of school.

And because he had nothing to do, he had also thought about whether to reopen the sword technique dojo at home.

Having been trapped in the game for nearly two years, he could now be considered barely an adult and possessed the qualifications to operate a dojo.

As for the relevant licenses and business permits, as long as he asked Asuna's father, Shozo Yuuki, it shouldn't be a big problem.

And although he wasn't old, at least he had the title of champion of the Middle School National Kendo Tournament, so recruiting some younger dojo apprentices shouldn't be a big problem either.

But when Shengzai really had an idea and intended to start implementing it, Shengzai discovered that he had encountered another huge problem.

That was that he was quite short of money right now!

Of course, the so-called shortage of money was not to the point of being so embarrassed that it would affect his daily life; in fact, if he only considered daily life, he was still quite well-off right now.

During the period he was trapped in SAO, he had opened a chamber of commerce and lent out quite a few high-interest loans.

And just as he had expected at the beginning, although many of those who borrowed money did indeed die in the game, there were also quite a few who survived.

Because they had signed relevant contract agreements, when Shengzai came to the door to ask for money, the vast majority of people didn't choose to default, and many people were quite grateful to Shengzai at the time, and even paid Shengzai quite a bit of interest because of this.

You have to know that in the early days of SAO, because land reclamation was difficult and there was no experience, most people, let alone hunting monsters, couldn't even pass the so-called "hunger" level with the funds on their bodies.

The funds Shengzai lent out helped most people survive the early stage, and combined with the fact that Kayaba Akihiko, as the big boss, was ultimately defeated by Shengzai, it was no exaggeration to say that Shengzai had saved many SAO players' lives twice.

It was also because of this reason that when Shengzai came to collect the loans, most people didn't have the slightest impatience toward Shengzai, and were even very grateful and polite.

Of course, there were also a very small number of people who, when Shengzai came to the door, chose to close the door and not see him.

And for this type of person, Shengzai didn't choose to pester them more, but turned and left directly; after all, there are all kinds of people in the world, and Shengzai couldn't ensure that everyone was a trustworthy person who knew how to be grateful.

This world will never lack deadbeats and people who return kindness with ingratitude, but on the whole, the final result still made Shengzai quite satisfied, because in addition to the principal he lent out, he also earned about 60% profit this time.

There were people who died and didn't admit the debt and closed the door, but there were also those who, even if they died, still entrusted their friends to tell their families to return the debts.

At the time, some people thought Shengzai was stupid for lending high-interest loans, but Shengzai didn't regret it at all.

Not to mention whether he made money or not, and not mentioning those who defaulted, just talking about those who kept their promises until death and the more people who survived because of this, Shengzai felt that the previous actions were worth it.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 262 =====