CHAPTER 16.1 - Shipwright

"A quest that wasn't on Beta Testing?" Asuna give him a confused look

"Yeah, the key must be here," Kirito said "It's not that far by gondola let's go"

"Wait, we're going to gondola right?" Asuna said and pointed the long line for riding the gondola "What do we do about that?"

"What?" Kirito saw the long line of the player who wants to ride the gondola "Oh crap, they're players who're here as tourists since the city opened, I should've made arrangements beforehand" He faced palm after looking at the long line like going to be forever

"It's about an hour wait, what do you want to do?" Asuna ask him, Kirito was thinking he can't wait that long so he need to think of an alternative for it "If only there's something like holy tree gate that Emilia used, or we ask her to fly us"

"Fly?" Kirito looks the other way and he came up with a good idea "Ah! There's another method" Kirito run towards the dock of the gondola "Let's go Asuna!"

"Where are we going? Hey! Kirito-Kun!" Asuna followed him. He stopped in the higher area of the dock "Don't tell me?" Asuna swallowed her saliva after guessing Kirito's plan

"That's right!" Kirito smiled at her

"I-I wouldn't do it!" Kirito started to count, in the end, Asuna just sight

"5.. 4.. 3.. 2… 1…!!" Asuna jump to the top of the gondola who was passing players on board

"Oh! Those guys are jumping on the top of the gondolas!" The one player who was in the long line said

"Sorry! It'll sway little be careful!" Kirito said "Hold onto something," Kirito said when they landed on the top of the gondola, like what they expect it sways a little

"What's going on?" The scared players who board on the gondola ask when it sways "Waaaaa!!!!"

"Sorry for the trouble!" Kirito said and they jump again to another gondola that was passing by

"They crazy! What if they fall?" The player said

"Is this the first time you've seen them? There are the famous dungeon clearers" The players were amazed at them "Oh! They're heading towards us!" After passing through the gondolas they are now walking

"Umm, head to the alley" Kirito pointed the way "We'll be taking a gondola from here on"

"The tourist hasn't reached here yet," Asuna said. They're not seeing anyone player in this location of the Rovia "Oh! The front and back seats are separated"

"Anyway let's hurry-" Asuna stopped Kirito from riding the gondola

"I'll take the front seat, is that okay?" Asuna was smiling at equipped her dagger in the case that Kirito wouldn't agree

"Ah, yes! Whichever you want" Kirito said forcefully

"Gondolas sure are nice, right Kirito-Kun?" Asuna said

"I'm glad you feel better, Hey Asuna did you know that you can buy a house around here?" Kirito said pointing to the houses that they were passing by

"Really?" Asuna's eyes were shining after hearing that

"Look" Kirito pointed to one of the houses assigned in the door that; House for sale "You can buy those houses that have those signs" Kirito added "This whole Rovia called floating City"

"Huh? You mean this city was floating?" Asuna look at the water imagining that the city was floating in the water

"That's not what I mean; the buildings here in Rovia do not float. Instead, they sit on the top of more than ten million tree trunks. These trunks act as foundations that prevent the city from sinking into the marshlands below. The reason why they called this floating city is that the entire city was covered with water as if it was floating" Kirito explains "Look at that house, is that beautiful?" The house here and establishment was Venetian gothic architecture

"Wow, How lovely" Asuna started imagining that she owned one of the houses there "I wonder how much they cost"

"It's better if you don't look at the prices," Kirito said and scratching his head

"What's with you, at least have a dream or two" Asuna give her a boring look at him

"The prices are exorbitant and I do not recommend buying houses on this floor"

"Why? This place was beautiful" Asuna give him a confused look

"It's pretty as a tourist spot but moving around is pretty tough" Kirito explained "it's fine just riding the gondolas here at times"

"Yeah, a house that has a lake view would be better," Asuna said

"I agree, if you have a house in the with a like view you can see the sunset and sunrise from their" Kirito said

"Hey! Kii-Boy!" They stopped chatting when they heard familiar voices that calling them "Asuna-San!!" They look at their back at they saw Agil, Argo, and Liten riding a gondola, they stopped at them

"What are you doing here?" Kirito asks them

"Hehe we want to come with you guys, we heard that you were heading to make a quest," Agil said, Kirito diverted his gaze to Argo and she makes a peace sign

"I guess you can't have A-Chan for yourself today, Kii-Boy," Argo said while Kirito faced palm

"As if I have a choice, let's go" Kirito and Asuna was about to turn their gaze in the front when they heard another familiar voice shouting

"I will be the one who first completed the quest!" Lind shouting at Kibaou

"That's not going to happen" They throw a death glare at each other. They are riding to the gondola

"Hehe Kii-Boy sorry they paid a big amount for this information," Argo said and makes a forced laugh "I will give some cole for you"

"So we have a party today," Liten said and giggled

After a couple of minutes, they arrived at their destination "We've reached the destination!" The NPC man said "We'll be counting on you on our way back"

"Oh, thank you, well be getting off," Kirito said, they are now facing a double gigantic door made in metal

"This house has a huge door huh," Asuna said

"You know what it reminds me something," Kibaou said they look at them in confusion "The Boss floor?" Their faces turned pale

"Don't tell me? Where going to fight the floor Boss now? Kirito-Kun?" Asuna said

"Of course not! This is the place that holds the most important quest" Kirito said "If the information map that you got was correct" He explain "And the Boss chamber is in the labyrinth" They breathed a sigh of relief after hearing that

"It looks like any normal house along the canal, I'm surprised you found it," Asuna said they are now looking at the exterior design of the house "The houses here are very similar to each other"

"Yeah, you will surely be lost if you don't have a map" Liten said

They entered the house and they saw an NPC man seating in the cough while drinking

"Look there is a quest symbol on his head," Lind said while pointing at the man. They were slightly taken aback after seeing it face"

"Are you sure, this is not the floor Boss?" Lind said and hides at the back of Kibaou

"What?" The NPC quest man ask them in a deep man voice that makes them tremble

"O-Oji-San, is there something troubling you?" Kirito ask the NPC quest man trying to hide her fear and swallowed his saliva while Asuna was hiding at his back

"Yes, there is!" They trembled even more with fear as it looked at them like he was going to eat them