Money Can Buy Everything

067 It's Just a Game

"Well, let me tell you, once you see through it, the principles involved here are actually quite simple."

"Argo is trying to walk a tightrope, which is actually a manifestation of her severe self-protection in her mind. On one hand, she values the friendship between herself and Asuna, fearing that this friendship might be damaged. On the other hand, she's also afraid that her own actions might completely deteriorate her relationship with me."

"Weighing options and hesitating, unwilling to give up that glimmer of hope in her heart, she instinctively tries to find a balance among these three aspects, to find a foothold on the mountaintop."

Reimu nodded, saying, "So, that's your reason for doing nothing?"

"Of course!"

"But I still don't understand!"

"It’s because of the gap in our IQ!"

"Tell me the truth, or I'll bite you!"

"Oh, come on, feel free to bite me, preferably my lips— Ouch ouch!, don't pull my hair!"

Reimu remained expressionless, her blank face seemingly to be saying, "If you don’t continue I would bite you”

"Alright, to put it simply, Argo is now exerting all her efforts to try to maintain balance on the mountaintop. If someone tries to give her a push and push her off the mountain at this time, what do you think Argo's reaction would be?"

Reimu pondered for a few seconds, saying, "If it were me, I'd immediately use all of my strength to smash their head!”

"Exactly, the principle is that simple. If I try to do something now that disrupts her balance, this resentment will shift onto me. At that point, I won't be the one she's focusing her thoughts on and wanting to grasp, but rather the one she wants to resent."

Reimu was shocked and exclaimed, "You, do you really not understand a woman's heart? Were you just teasing me before?"

"Take a guess."

"You bastard, I risked so much to tell you all that— I'm too naive, too stupid, shouldn't have regarded you, a demon, as a person."

Momo shrugged and said, "So, it's quite obvious by now, since Argo is desperately trying to maintain balance, any attempt to disrupt this balance will be met with resistance. And what I need to do now is simply to go with the flow. This balance will naturally be disrupted, but it shouldn't be by me."

"Wait— are you going to let Asuna disrupt it? Hey hey, are you going to break up with Asuna? Do you forget about Asuna's temper? Whe she'll really get angry, she'll kill chop , and turn you into pieces with a machete, and then use your corpse as a nutrient for her plant!”

".....You have read too many fantasy novels.”

Momo sighed and said, "Regarding this point, there is nothing for you to worry about, after all, for what reason would Asuna blame me?”

"Why wouldn't Asuna blame you? Obviously because you're flirting— Ah! I get it!"

"Oh, what do you understand?"

Reimu's eyes twitched, saying, "She won’t do anything because you haven't done anything at all, you're just going along with Argo's request, doing this Quest that would make you Yui in-game dad, in this accident, you're just a passive recipient."

"In Asuna's eyes, maybe it's Argo trying to bind you with the task, then get involved with you, and then forcibly wedge herself between you and her."

"Asuna definitely won't forgive you for having feelings for another woman, but... if you haven't done anything, yet other girls start liking you— Asuna will only be unhappy, but her intellect won't let her have any resentment towards you— that's how it is!"

"Exactly, so all this has nothing to do with me, I haven't done anything, absolutely nothing, I'm just a pure little lamb!"

Reimu sneered disdainfully, saying, "Just wearing a sheepskin, right? Still, this is getting intresting. I'll see if things will unfold as you expect."

"Hey, Momo, why aren't you saying anything?"

Argo jumped in front of Momo, waved her hand in front of his eyes, then cupped her hand by her mouth, exaggeratingly shouted, "Hey, Mr. Daydreamer! are you afraid because of a mere 1000 Cols?"

"Afraid?"

Momo rolled his eyes, saying, "It’s just 1000 Cols, why would I care? But Argo, don't think my hearing is bad, I heard clearly, it's 1000 Cols a day, that's not a small number!"

"What? Scared?"

"No no no!"

Momo shook his finger, saying, "I’m fine with 1000 Cols, but something seems wrong doesn’t it? it's not supposed to be me giving it to you, it should be you giving it to me."

"What? What nonsense are you talking about!"

"Isn't that natural? Look at me, look at this handsome and dashing guy, for someone like me to suddenly become a father and a girl husband, you should give me some spiritual compensation, right? Otherwise, how can I face Asuna's wrath, how can I explain to this handsome and dashing face of mine?"

"Ugh, disgusting, can people really be shameless to such an extent?"

Argo smirked, wanting to kick Momo, but Momo dodged with a suave turn, holding onto Yui, and said to her, "Yui, your mom's gone crazy, she actually wants to hit daddy, should daddy take you and run away?"

Yui had been giggling all along, seemingly enjoying the playful atmosphere between Argo and Momo. When she heard Momo's words, she immediately immersed herself in the role, saying, "Yes, daddy should run away with me, mommy wants to hit people, daddy should take me to escape violence!"

"That's right, escape violence, long live peace!"

With that, Momo actually dashed out of the house while holding Yui, leaving Argo dumbfounded. Argo yelled at the direction Momo left, "Hey, where are you taking Yui? Give me back my daughter!"

"Hahaha!"

Momo's boisterous laughter echoed, saying, "Inexperienced young hero Argo, our daughter is already in my hands. If you want to get our daughter back, come to the top of the Demon Realm and find me. There, I will give you the final trial!"

"Are you some idiotic demon king who just popped out of nowhere?! And why should I, as a hero, go to the demon king to snatch our daughter away, what kind of nonsense is this?!"

"Hahaha, mommy, come save me, daddy kidnapped me!"

Yui's agreement came in as well, making Argo both amused and exasperated. Just as she was about to go after the two idiots, Asuna walked out.

"Um, Argo, could you help me prepare the ingredients?" Asuna asked.

Argo's body trembled.

The cooking process in SAO had been simplified to the extreme; after all, it wasn't a real-world scenario, so players weren't expected to meticulously prepare ingredients and cut them.

All you had to do was take the ingredients from your inventory, use the cooking skill with a kitchen knife, and it would release a skill similar to sword skills, allowing you to process the ingredients into the desired form.

After that, you just had to follow the process of making, add your own prepared seasonings, and wait for ten or twenty minutes. The system would automatically complete the dish you wanted to make, with the best flavor and texture.

Unless players randomly tried new dishes with ingredients, or used extremely rare ingredients, the production time would only be extended for special dishes. Normally, preparing a feast might seem time-consuming due to each dish taking five or ten minutes, but that's it.

Moreover, the player in front of her wasn't an ordinary player; she was a player who had completely mastered the cooking skill. As the cooking skill level increased, the time to make dishes would be correspondingly shortened. She had also eaten Asuna's cooking many times before and naturally knew Asuna's terrifying efficiency in cooking.

"Ah, sure."

However, Argo couldn't refuse and could only enter the kitchen to help Asuna. After all, Asuna's request was reasonable, and even if it was just a matter of etiquette, she couldn't refuse.

Following Asuna into the kitchen, after a brief moment of astonishment at the array of ingredients, Argo breathed a sigh of relief. Could it really just be to help?

Asuna said she wanted to make grilled meat. Apart from the main meat dish, she had taken out dozens of kinds of ingredients. If all these ingredients were to be processed, it would indeed be a cumbersome task, and it seemed quite normal for Argo to help.

"Ah, this is incredible. Are all these ingredients ones you usually stock, Asuna?"

Argo was genuinely surprised; after all, she hadn't even seen half of these ingredients before, most likely they were carefully collected by Asuna.

Asuna smiled slightly, saying, "Well, this is also one of my rare hobbies. Momo once said that to relax in this death game, food is a great way, so for Momo and myself, I learned all this."

Hearing this, Argo felt a slight sense of frustration, but could only smile and agree, saying, "Well, as expected of you, Asuna. Ah, Momo, that annoying guy, if really lucky to have such a caring girlfriend like you.”

"Where does that come from? Argo, are you... feeling better now? I know everyone has accumulated quite a bit of stress due to this death game, and I'm lucky since I have Momo. But what about you? Are you okay?"

Hearing Asuna's genuine concern, Argo became more determined in her own thoughts, showing a smile and saying, "Of course, I'm Argo, the one with nerves of steel. Cry for three seconds, charge for a hundred days. Don't worry Asuna, I'm still the same Argo!"

Asuna nodded, saying, "In that case, I can really rest assured. Argo, I believe in you!"

Argo's heart trembled, subconsciously asking, "Believe in me for what..."

"Believe in you? Of course, I believe in you. You're my best friend, and our friendship will always continue, right? What do you say?"

"Ah, yes, our friendship... is unshakeable!"