"When you said expect a special date, this didn't come to my mind at all," Tsubaki muttered while admiring her surrounding. It was a busy marketplace with variety of items and most importantly, a certain type of people that attracted the most attention to them.
It was the players, each of them had a nametag floating above their head. Most of them were running around searching secrets, while some simply blended amongst the locals, enjoying the game at their own paces. That's right, Kousuke had brought Tsubaki into the Virtual World that was currently running a closed beta test to a small group of thousand. But since they have no nametags like the players, the latter simply disregarded them as just the background NPC.
What solidified that impression even more was their whole attires smoothly assimilated themselves into world.
Kousuke dressed like a simple medieval commoner, wearing a plain brown tunic tied with a leather belt, snug wool hose, and worn leather shoes. A small cloak rested on his shoulders, and a wool cap covered his hair, giving him a fresh, everyday look.
Then there was Tsubaki. She is also dressed as a young medieval woman, with a long green kirtle over a linen chemise, a simple apron at her waist, and sturdy leather shoes. Her hair is braided and covered by a light headscarf, giving her a neat and modest appearance.
To the players, they looks like the most basic NPC that most walked past without a second thought. They simply didn't stood out, yet doesn't lay low either—it was just right.
"Well I have already shown everyone, including Rias and her peerage, and that leaves you the only one that was busy helping Sona," Kousuke replied with a smile. His hand lay comfortably on her waist as if it's a natural thing for him. "I don't want to make you feel left out, so blame it on her~"
"Mm... I don't really feel left out since you always leave some time for us," she said, leaning her body closer to him. He have truly followed his words, always making them feels loved instead of being envious of one another. It showed that he is truly committed to all of them. Even if she couldn't have him for the rest of the day, just spending time like this with him was more than enough for her.
As they were about to continue their date by checking out each stall, a crowd seemed to have formed in front of them, attracting both of their attentions right away. When they stepped closer while blending in amongst the curious NPC, a spark ignited in Kousuke's eyes when he saw a ruckus between players. From listening to a nearby well-informed player conversation, it seems one of the players in the conflicts was a known esport player.
His nametag showed 'MusterBaiter69', clearly he must have thought really hard for that unique name. He goes by Raymond in the real world. You see, Raymond seems to have some kind of infamy growing on the internet, steaming from his live-streaming where he played multiplayer games and trolled for the sole purpose of getting a reaction out of people. Even in this virtual world, his personality remained unchanged. So it wasn't surprising to hear that he was the one who started the conflict.
The player that stood in front of him was slightly shorter by a few inches, which was the very reason he had picked on them. In his eyes, this was an easy target. The game just started and every lucky beta testers were new to this virtual world, so it's highly likely that none have any advantages against the others. That should've been the case until Raymond saw a player clearly well equipped with real weapon, in comparison to him who still had beginner wooden sword.
He thought the player with the nametag 'Kirito' must be lucky to acquired the blade so early into the game. Then his next thought process were much simpler. If he defeat this player in a duel, then his weapon might get drop like every other roleplay games. Even if that weren't the case, the fact that this player somehow did better than him gives Raymond enough reason to torment them—well, that and alongside pettiness and envy.
By the look on Kirito's face, it seems he wasn't really keen on wasting his time here. But each time he tries getting out of the conflict, Raymond would always stood in front of him like a persistent stalker. It was starting to annoyed him as well, after all, he could've used the time grinding for EXP, but here he was having to deal with an annoying player. To him, every seconds in this beta test is precious. So he couldn't hold himself back anymore and pressed 'Yes' when prompted to a duel by the tall player in front of him.
Musterbaiter69 is a level 8 player, and it appears he hadn't found a real class just yet. Kirito on other hands, despite being level 1 player, he had a class called Hunter. This was due to level resetting after unlocking a class for the first time. One might thinks they'd lose all their previous progress, but it simply means they need to level up the class as the stats they had gotten from before does not disappear. Basically, the current Kirito is far stronger than Raymond. Kousuke didn't have to pull up the menu to understand this, he simply glances at their weapon.
As he had expected, Kirito made a quick work out of Raymond before the latter could even parry against his attack. Although the beginner wooden sword had unlimited durability, its attack power is almost nonexistent and it would disappear the moment the player gained a class. In short, it's basically glorified weapon and wasn't meant to be used in a duel. Even if Raymond could land one attack on Kirito, it would only gives the latter at best 3 damages.
"Isn't this funny? The big guy thinks he can bully who he thinks is weaker than him, but in this virtual world, size meant nothing." Kousuke whispered in a hushed voice. Tsubaki giggles at his words before nodding in agreement. Her boyfriend could've stopped the conflict but instead, he stood in the crowd and observed the whole thing like it was meant to be an entertainment. Perhaps that's all that is to him.
Though he couldn't help but became curious about the player 'Kirito'. 'How did he get a class so quickly? was it someone in the supernatural world? Or maybe a close family member of my friends?', Kousuke thought internally. He decides to tagged on that player and let his AI observe them for now. With that done, he continues on his date with Tsubaki along the marketplace. Obviously it didn't end there, he even pulled Ophis out of futon to let them stand on top of her as she flew across the sky. He wanted to show Tsubaki the beautiful views of his virtual world from the tallest point, so it was unintentionally when some players saw it and mistaken Ophis's dragon form to be some kind of final boss.