"—The Elven Forest of the Eternal City." Miyazaki said, "If you want to go there, you must defeat Starscourge Radahn. And I'm afraid we don't have much time."
"Why? Didn't you say Miss Leafa was safe?" Asuna asked Miyazaki as she held Kiriko's hand.
"She is safe for now, but the Elven Forest is a high-level map. It's very difficult to earn any income there. Although she starts with a certain amount of Cor, if she spends it all..."
Without money, she would really starve to death.
It was a virtual world, but this was no joke.
Being fine for now did not mean she would remain fine later.
"But why would Leafa do something like this..." Kiriko was panicking.
"Because this is something only she can do... only a victim of that experiment." Miyazaki sounded regretful.
"Right—what about official rescue efforts?" Asuna finally found a chance to cut in.
However, Miyazaki shook his head. "On that point... I'm afraid it's regrettable. There's nothing they can do."
The Enemy Is Outside the World!
The moment he saw Asuna, Miyazaki knew that she was "Asuna Yuuki."
Because Miyazaki had seen her in the real world—although she had been unconscious at the time.
But that no longer mattered.
After learning Kiriko's identity, Miyazaki had formed the next step of his plan.
"So what exactly is going on?" Asuna immediately asked again. "Can't they take off our headsets in the real world either?"
"I'm afraid not, and the authorities are not particularly proactive about rescuing you." Miyazaki regretted it, but there was nothing he could do.
"There are a hundred thousand people in this world. Why?" Asuna's eyes widened in disbelief.
It would have been one thing if rescue was impossible, but why were the authorities not actively trying to rescue them?
"Well,