You're the Famed Honko-na!

"This young lady, I'm Wenren Seiya, more or less this guy's childhood friend and partner in crime.

Kirito's friends are my friends. If you want to borrow money, I can offer you the highest limit.

And when it comes time to repay it, I'll accept either Real World currency or SAO currency."

Although the figure seated beside Kirito was wrapped tightly in a cloak, Seiya knew full well who she was.

Forget the fact that she was wearing a cloak now—even if she weren't wearing anything... Ahem. She was the famed Honko-na.

In short, having studied many of her works, Seiya recognized her at a glance despite the cloak concealing both her face and figure.

"You're willing to lend me money? And I can repay it with Real World currency?

Are you that certain we'll be able to leave this Death Game someday?"

Asuna was rather surprised by Seiya's words. From what those people had said earlier, borrowing money from Seiya seemed to come with a certain limit, and she had never heard that debts could be repaid with real currency.

Within the SAO world, perhaps a contract could be signed to prevent someone from defaulting.

But if debts could be repaid with Real World currency, that meant they could wait until they returned to the Real World before paying them back.

But once she returned to the Real World, wasn't he afraid she would simply default?

After all, contracts made in the game world held no real binding power over people who had already returned to the Real World.

"That's why I said it just now—Kirito's friends are my friends.

And since you're a friend, naturally you get special treatment. You can borrow however much you want, as long as it's within my means.

As for your second question, my answer is that we'll definitely clear this game and return to the Real World.

Don't ask why I'm so confident. If even I don't have that conviction, then what meaning is there in wondering whether the money I lend out can be recovered?"

What a joke. Seiya knew that Asuna was a bona fide rich young lady in the Real World. The chance of her defaulting was infinitely close to zero.

As for why he was so certain they could return, that was another pointless question—because he was a Transmigrator.

Of course, Seiya's explanation also convinced Asuna, making her believe that he was doing this to give himself something to hold on to.

Asuna understood that feeling too. When she had first been trapped in the game, she had also gone through a period of confusion like that.

If you didn't know how to keep going, then all you had to do was create a reason to keep going.

In Asuna's eyes, lending so much money to other people and surviving to return to the Real World to collect those debts was Seiya's motivation and conviction to keep going.

In Kirito's eyes, however, Seiya was doing it entirely to save him face. That gave him, who had just stabbed his childhood friend... no, best friend, in the back, a tiny bit of guilt.

As for Seiya's actual thoughts, they were: A rare sucker... no, a rich lady. Asuna isn't like poor bastards such as Kirito. If I don't make a killing off this chance, I'd be letting myself down.

In a restaurant in Tolbana, Seiya sat across from Asuna and Kirito, watching them wolf down their food with a speechless expression.

"So you wanted to borrow money from me just so you could have a proper meal?"

Looking at Asuna, who was draped in a cloak and eating in a manner completely unlike that of a refined young lady, Seiya was utterly speechless.

Just minutes earlier, Seiya had thought he could lend Asuna a large sum and make a fortune in the Real World.

Yet to his utter surprise, she had not borrowed money to strengthen herself and increase her chances of survival in this world. She had borrowed it solely to fill her stomach.

"Even if I get killed now, I have no regrets..."

Asuna had eaten enough for several people without issue, and as she leaned back in her chair, groaning contentedly, Seiya's mouth twitched.

He kept feeling that the Honko-na before him was somehow different from the one in his memories.

Asuna being a foodie did seem to be part of her character setting, but he had never heard she could eat this much.

Seeing Seiya's twitching mouth, Asuna, finally full after a proper meal, realized that her behavior just now had indeed been somewhat improper.

If she had acted like that at home before, her family would definitely have scolded her.

But this was a game now, and she had only met Seiya and Kirito today, so Asuna simply threw caution to the wind. "Hmph. If you ate that hard, flavorless black bread that was like chewing rocks every day for a month, you'd know how I felt.

And even though you're willing to lend me a lot of money, I've only just met the friend you mentioned."

As the young lady of the Yuuki Family, Asuna not only had a strong sense of propriety, but she had also been raised with excellent manners.

If a month of black bread had not truly become unbearable, someone with her upbringing would never have asked others for money.

In SAO, aside from combat mechanics, there were also certain life mechanics meant to better recreate reality.

If a character went without rest for too long, they would accumulate fatigue.

Likewise, failing to eat regularly would trigger a warning that one's "satiety" was too low.

Once "satiety" fell below a critical threshold, the character would continuously lose health and could eventually die.

At present, the cheapest food in the game was the black bread Asuna had mentioned. While it could provide a certain amount of "satiety," it tasted absolutely awful, like chewing on a rag.

Kirito was one thing, but Asuna had originally been a pampered young lady. On top of that, she had always enjoyed good food, so being forced to eat this tasteless black bread for an entire month was undoubtedly torture for her.

So after borrowing money from Seiya, the first thing she did was not buy equipment or anything of the sort, but head straight to a restaurant.

She was even quite generous, treating Seiya and Kirito, who had just become both her creditors and teammates.

Because this was full-dive, with the five senses controlled by the brain, taste could naturally be reproduced in SAO. That was also why Asuna had sighed like that earlier.

"Seiya, do you think this raid operation can proceed smoothly?"

After eating and drinking her fill, Kirito seriously brought up the matter that concerned him most.