Bab 342: -338- Tell you later
Next, it seemed like Silica had switched on some kind of button, relentlessly pressing Rozen for all kinds of information about her idol. Her demeanor was so forceful that it was hard to believe she was just a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl.
Rozen could only answer with a complex mix of truth and evasion, intermittently addressing Silica's questions, fulfilling her curiosity.
Thankfully, Silica was only inquiring about Rozen's in-game information, without delving into real-world details.
It's important to note that after SAO turned into a death game, asking players about their real-world information was a serious taboo.
Not to mention, some players might betray their teammates for certain loot or even endanger their lives. Once real-world matters were brought into it, it could potentially lead to actual criminal incidents.
Because of this, unless the players were friends in real life, they would never mention anything about the real world.
Silica also seemed to be aware of this taboo and didn't make any requests in that direction.
Rozen should have felt relieved about this.
After all, a certain rapier user, acclaimed as "Flash", didn't have such good luck. Among her fanbase were some fanatics who not only sought real-world information but also tried to uncover her personal privacy. It was downright scary.
While Silica did consider Rozen her idol, she was fortunately a genuine fan and not an overly obsessive one. She was approaching her idol with quite a level-headed attitude.
However, it was still the first time for Rozen to experience being treated as an idol by someone else.
In the past, although many referred to him as the "Strongest Master of Chaldea" or the "Divine child of the Akabane Clan," it was hard to say whether that could be considered idolization by others.
Therefore, seeing Silica's eyes full of curiosity, eagerly seeking various pieces of information from him, Rozen's feelings were truly complicated and subtle.
In the end, after about thirty minutes, Silica felt somewhat satisfied.
However, Rozen couldn't feel relaxed.
Because, now that he had been probed to this extent, there was one question that he couldn't avoid, no matter what.
That question was...
"By the way, Rozen-nii,"
Silica couldn't wait and asked the question.
"The name of that person... I mean his character name, could you please tell me?"
The very question.
And it was the most difficult question to answer.
Now, Rozen's character name was only known within the frontline clearing group and wasn't popular at all among mid-tier or lower-tier players.
There are two reasons for this.
One reason is that Rozen himself didn't intend to promote his name, and his accomplishments spread unconsciously over time. Eventually, players gave him the nickname "Magus" for convenience.
The other reason is that it makes him an easy target.
For example, even if he's not added as a friend, if players know his character name's correct spelling, they can send him instant messages.
You can imagine that if this were to happen, Rozen would be bombarded with countless spam messages, making it hard for him to sleep.
But that's only one part of the problem.
If the messages sent weren't just spam but included something like threatening letters, then things could get even more complicated.
Given this, from the beginning, Rozen consciously suppressed this matter and openly shared it with everyone in the clearing group.
"If letting this out slows down our progress, I'm sure none of you would be pleased, right?"
With this reasoning, Rozen had asked the clearing group to refrain from disclosing his name everywhere.
In fact, Rozen's approach was undoubtedly correct.
A certain flashy rapier user had never considered this issue, and as a result of her character name being exposed, she received not only various harassing messages every day but even pop-up marriage proposals. She regretted it countless times.
For these reasons, Rozen's name hadn't spread widely, even Kirito had the foresight to avoid this matter. People only knew of the "Black Swordsman" among the top players, but they didn't know his actual name.
Precisely for this reason, Rozen could freely move around using his character name. Otherwise, he'd have to conceal it and might not even be able to team up, as his team members might see his character name, revealing himself.
However, now this issue that was inevitably brought up.
Silica herself seemed to know about it.
"Please...please don't worry. I just want to know the name, I won't send any messages or tell anyone!"
Silica quickly explained.
So, Rozen could only say this.
"Well, what if I told you his character name is 'Rozen'?"
"Really, you're saying it like that again. I'm being serious, don't tease me!"
Well, I'm being really serious!
Are you teasing me right now?
Rozen sighed, gave a forced smile, and answered.
"Let's just wait and I'll tell you later."
Hearing this, although Silica seemed a bit unwilling, she also knew that exposing the character name of a famous person could be inconvenient.
At this point, Silica didn't press further.
"Alright, just remember to tell me later, okay?"
After making this request, Silica stood up from the ground.
"Do we still need to continue deeper?" Silica brushed off the dirt from her skirt, then looked at Rozen and said, "If we go any deeper, there might be more Drunk Apes, and dealing with seven already felt challenging. It could be dangerous with more."
Silica's suggestion seemed to be to stop going deeper and explore the nearby area instead.
Naturally, Rozen understood Silica's intention.
However...
"Even if we don't go deeper, it doesn't mean we won't encounter danger, you know?"
Rozen raised his eyebrow, suddenly smiled, and said such a sentence.
"Sometimes, players can be scarier than monsters."
This sentence left Silica unsurprisingly stunned.
And then...
"Chu!"
Bina, who was obediently lying on the ground, suddenly flew up with a sharp chirp, gazing in a certain direction.
"Pi...Pina?"
Silica was a bit slow to react.
But Rozen, as expected, muttered something like that.
"It looks like they followed us quite well."
Rozen turned his gaze and looked in the direction Pina was staring at, speaking in a leisurely manner.
"How about it? Aren't you planning to come out?"
A clear voice echoed, making the surrounding forest feel as if it had thickened, becoming heavy all of a sudden.
It wasn't until this moment that Silica realized that something was amiss and instinctively reached out, grabbing onto the edge of Rozen's clothing.
And in this situation...
"I didn't expect to be discovered, I should really say you live up to being a member of the best guild."
Accompanied by a somewhat playful laughter, a figure gradually walked out in the direction that Rozen, Silica, and Pina were all focused on.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone