Dinner

He pointed at Fugaku. "That's a member of our party. We have three people now. Want to sit over there?"

Kirito explained, "Now that we're in the same party, getting to know each other and understanding each other's skills will help us coordinate better in the coming boss raid. What do you think?"

Asuna thought it over and felt that the boy made sense, so she followed him over and sat down beside the other member.

Asuna glanced at him. He looked young as well, like the other boy—both seemed to be high school students.

Just like in the original story, that dung-yellow-haired man jumped out and loudly cursed the beta testers as bastards, accusing them of monopolizing grinding spots and experience. Because of their selfishness, he said, they had indirectly caused the deaths of two thousand people. He even clamored that those selfish people ought to apologize to the dead.

Kirito was clearly within the scope of his attack, and his expression naturally darkened.

After all, he was being berated like that, and it was also the first time he had heard that two thousand people had already died.

This was the first time he had learned the exact number. Over the past few days, he had been out grinding with Takuya at every opportunity. Every few days, they would return to Beginning Town only to restock on food. The moment they entered town, they headed straight for the bakery, bought the cheapest black bread, and immediately left again.

It could be said that they spent most of their time searching for monsters and completing quests.

Learning that two thousand people had died naturally made Kirito feel awful.

He also wondered whether the deaths of those two thousand people really had anything to do with the beta testers standing