Money Can Buy Everything

057: A Surprise For You

The first to mention is the other guild created by Momo, the Rose Garden. When it comes to reputation, some may not know about the Watchful Knights or the SAO Liberation Group, but every male player definitely knows about the Rose Garden.

As an all-female guild that gathered over ninety percent of female players in Sword Art Online, this guild was simply the archenemy of all male players!

Yes, the archenemy!

It provided a home for all female players, a place to find same-sex partners and teammates. They could safely level up in maps where monster levels were lower than player levels, collect materials, and complete a certain amount of tasks each day to receive daily necessities distributed by the guild.

If individuals were not satisfied with this, they could continue leveling up by defeating monsters or teaming up for simple daily tasks. Those with perseverance could even learn secondary classes, whether it be blacksmithing, cooking, or handicrafts. Whatever the female players' secondary classes were, there were always male players eager to patronize them.

This left male players helpless. The chances of leveling up while impressing girls were gone, and they could only chat and fight monsters with a group of guys in one area. Those seemingly unsightly foot-picking guys seemed to become a bit more pleasing to the eye...

Oh! A certain forbidden atmosphere seemed to be spreading...

Yes, ultimately, this was all the fault of the Rose Garden!

In the eyes of male players, the Rose Garden was truly a source of evil. However, it genuinely protected the majority of female players who didn't have much gaming ability. After all, most female players entered the game with a playful attitude or were invited by friends.

However, what made the Rose Garden infamous was not just the all-female player base but also the guild leader, Asuna, and her Rose Knights.

Although not many female players had the desire to fight, with Asuna's encouragement, she managed to create a team of 20 members and successfully defeated the boss on the 9th floor. And it was an all-female player team that achieved this kill.

For players trapped in Aincrad, this was sensational news. After this event, although Asuna did not lead her Rose Knights to single-handedly kill bosses again, most of the negative rumors about the Rose Garden guild disappeared.

After all, most of the secondary class outputs in Aincrad now came from the Rose Garden. No one wanted to offend the craftsmen who made their weapons, equipment, and food. Moreover, the Rose Garden had its own combat-capable team, which deterred many players and made them choose to keep quiet.

Regarding this, Momo also had deep feelings. After all, those twenty female knights looked at Asuna with admiration, but when they looked at Momo, it was as if they had a deep-seated grudge and were ready to rush up and make him leave at any time.

The second guild, or rather, it would be more appropriate to call it a legion. Just like in the original story, Thinker had still created an army. However, since Kibaou had run away and become the Black Swordsman, Thinker's army was essentially similar to Momo's Rose Garden in nature. It only operated in the lower levels, serving as the last resort for players struggling to survive.

Moreover, Thinker's future wife, the Vice Commander of the army in the original work, Yulier, was also brought into the Rose Garden by a single sentence from Momo, becoming Asuna's right-hand woman.

It was because of Yulier's competence in handling daily affairs that Asuna found herself with some free time to build her Rose Knights.

Now, Momo was vaguely regretting his suggestion. According to Argos's 2000 Col intelligence, there were already more than a few female knights spreading rumors about him to Asuna, forming an alliance against the playboy.

He wondered who this playboy in their mouths really was. It was so shameless!

Momo felt helpless about this. Wasn't he just a lazy manager for a few months, causing many members of the Watchful Knights to forget he even existed? What was the big deal?

The third guild had some interesting aspects to it.

This was a player named Heathcliff, leading a guild that gradually grew with like-minded players. Initially, there wasn't a single decent player in it, but under his leadership, the combat power of the entire guild's combat squad kept increasing. They eventually took down the 15th-floor boss, gaining great fame.

As a result, players who couldn't join the Watchful Knights or the SAO Liberation Group started choosing his guild.

This guild was named the Blood Knights.

On this matter, Momo really wanted to ask Kayaba about the copyright issue of guild names. Why did he always use names related to knights?

Yes, Kayaba, the guild in the original story was created by him under the pseudonym Heathcliff, a boss disguised as a hero leading heroes to fight bosses. In the end, he was ready to betray and stage a tragic scene at any moment.

Currently, Kayaba did the same thing as in the original story, using the pseudonym Heathcliff and the guild name Blood Knights. So, Momo suspected, was this name and the guild's title also a product of Kayaba's incurable chuunibyou?

However, unlike the original story, due to the overwhelming influence of the Watchful Knights and the SAO Liberation Group, the Blood Knights struggled to develop. For example, when Momo mentioned this guild to Asuna and Kirito, the two were only vaguely aware that this guild miraculously cleared the 15th floor. They didn't pay much attention to Heathcliff and the guild.

Currently, four months had passed in the game. Excluding the first month, the actual time spent on clearing the game was only three months. However, a few days ago, the passage to the 22nd floor had already opened.

This was because the clearing group deliberately slowed down their progress. After all, beta players only knew the information about the bosses on the first ten floors, making the progress extremely fast, almost two floors per week.

Beyond the tenth floor, the pace slowed down a bit. When attacking the 20th floor, they nearly faced death. After a discussion, starting from the 20th floor, the clearing group no longer demanded a one-time clearance. If a small number of players were not in good condition, they would exit the boss room, discuss the plan, and start again.

After all, having passed the 21st floor without a single player death was almost a miracle.

However, the miracle had become a heavy pressure on the hearts of the clearing group members. Because ordinary players tended to consider clearing without casualties as a normal scenario, under this mindset, the clearing group couldn't afford to make mistakes; otherwise, it would greatly shake people's confidence.

However, for the time being, all of this had nothing to do with Momo. Waiting for the 22nd floor to become accessible, Momo directly took Asuna to the lakeside to check the status of the lakeside cottage.

"Momo, where are we really going?"

Asuna held Momo's hand naturally, without a hint of awkwardness. The two had been sleeping together for over a hundred days, and they were already familiar with each other.

There were a few times when Momo looked at Asuna with a resentful gaze. Even Momo, a centennial virgin, almost couldn't control himself. No, it seemed that it was precisely because Momo was a centennial virgin that he almost couldn't control himself.

"Of course, we're going to a nice place. I told you before, I'll give you a surprise."

Asuna smiled helplessly. While others thought Momo was idling, only she knew that Momo was actually doing the most important behind-the-scenes work. Momo controlled the guild funds of both guilds. With a daily flow of funds from thousands, even tens of thousands of members, if Momo didn't manage and control them, chaos would have broken out long ago.

There were even a few members of the SAO Liberation Group who claimed to have lost equipment and Col, left the group, and, from an outsider's perspective, this might seem like the SAO Liberation Group bullying people. However, Asuna, who also managed the guild, understood that it was likely that the SAO Liberation Group, under the command of Kibaou, couldn't handle the daily accounts involving thousands or even tens of thousands of transactions. It had simply disrupted the order.

After all, Kibaou insisted on maintaining his image as the Black Swordsman, a just and heroic figure. He would never destroy everything for a small profit.

The two walked over a hill, and the terrain gradually sloped downward. A dazzling display of waves suddenly appeared before them, as if an extra sun had appeared in front of Asuna.

Asuna instinctively raised her hand to block the glare but quickly moved it away. A blue lake shimmered in front of her, its water appearing like ice crystals, instantly calming Asuna's disordered heart.

"So beautiful!"

Asuna let go of Momo's hand and immediately grabbed it again, pulling Momo forward. However, in the middle of this, Momo held onto Asuna and said, "Look over there."

Only then did Asuna notice that in another direction, a villa was located not far from the lakeside. This position could definitely provide a view of the lake from inside the room, making it an absolute lakefront room.

Momo pulled Asuna over, and when Asuna saw the sign at the entrance of the room with the words "For Sale" written on it, she truly reacted.

"Momo... Can players really buy this?"

Momo wore a gentle smile on his face and said, "I told you, I want to give you a surprise, right?"

Asuna covered her mouth, her eye sockets already reddening. A gentle emotion comforted her body and mind, making her uncontrollably lean on Momo.

Not sad but able to shed tears, not joyful but extremely happy—perhaps this was happiness.

"Thank you, Momo. I'm very moved by this surprise... But..."

Asuna seemed to think of something and said, "This house seems quite expensive. Can we afford it?"

Momo shrugged and said, "The house is priced at 500,000 Col. Currently, I have savings of around 300,000. It's still not enough."

Asuna's face turned pale, and she said, "I only have 100,000. No, should we ask Argos and the others for a loan? What if someone else buys it..."

"Okay, don't be nervous. This house will definitely be ours. I just brought you here today to take a look. Even I don't have enough Col. Who else currently has enough money?"

"I earned these 300,000 Col by selling various skills. Do you think I can sell them to players who can afford them by not fighting? Wait a few more days, and I should be able to gather enough. After setting aside some reserve liquidity, this house will be ours."

Hearing Momo's words, Asuna finally breathed a sigh of relief, and the tension disappeared, leaving only the moved feeling.

"Momo..."

Asuna leaned on Momo's chest, raised her head to look at Momo, her face flushed, and her gaze misty.

Momo also took the opportunity to hold Asuna's waist, his forehead against Asuna's forehead, looking at Asuna's delicate face up close.

"Alright, are you ready to see the surprise I prepared for you?"

"Huh?"