Part 1 of The Beast King Arc

The first part/chapter for The Beast King Arc

Part 1
I slowly open my eyes. It was painful. There was something on top of my head. Wha…?

Oh, right. I’m not in the death game, Sword Art Online anymore. I’m back in reality. My real home. My real life.

I begin tearing up. What happened to my dearest adopted daughter, Claire? Or Luna, my in-game wife and real-world girlfriend? Did they return as well? These thoughts went through my head until a nurse walks into my room and freaks out.

Moments later, after she began going crazy, she calls for a doctor and I began receiving treatment and a welcome back.

A day after I had woken up, a man in glasses named Sugou had updated me in what’s happened.

Apparently, I did not wake up at the same time as the rest of the SAO players. I was one of the 300 players that did not wake up and had their mind stuck inside another plagiarized VRMMO, ALfheim Online. Luckily the player, Kirito, not only freed SAO players, but also the ALO ones as well. I picked the right person to wield Dual Blades, no?

This man, Sugou, shook my hand.

“Well, I’m going to leave now. If you need anything, here’s my card.”

He hands me a white business card. I take it.

“And one more thing. I’m sure you’ve had this on your mind for a while, but your friends are okay and they’re all back in the States with an exception of three. In fact,one of them are here right now.”

I widen my eyes. What would they say to me? After all the lies I’ve hidden?

“Daddy!”

What? No. It couldn’t be-

“Claire?!”

She hugs me tightly and I return it. I shedded some tears. I looked at Sugou.

“How?”

“Well, I had a personal visit with her, as she was one of the youngest players. All she talked about was you, and her adventures with you. It was her request to see you, but since you were still in a slumber, she had to wait for a long while.”

“....-”

“Ah! I know what you’re going to say. You want to adopt Claire, yes? It’s been done.”

“Huh?! That’s it?”

“Well, SAO is close to reality, right? So that should be enough for us to let you adopt her.”

Two weeks have passed since I’ve been admitted out of the hospital. I rented a large apartment(I still had lots of money before I got trapped. I also received a new job at another gaming company that paid a similar amount of money), and Claire lived with me.

The next thing on my to-do list was to see Luna and Brandon.

But that’s tomorrow.

Right now, I should start making dinner. I have gotten skinnier and weaker in the last 2 years. Same with Claire. I can see her cheek bones.

I return home from the store with Claire and I prepare the ingredients and heated the stove.

“What are you cooking?” Claire asked me.

I replied,”Well, I’m cooking potato soup.”

“What’s that?”

“Ah. I forget that we lived in two different places before. Well, when I was younger, and I traveled around the world more, I visited Paris. One of their breakfast foods was potato soup. It’s creamy and sometimes with shredded cheese and sometimes bacon.”

“Okay! Your cooking is the best!” Claire exclaims with a large smile.

“Would you like to help?” I asked the curious little girl.

She nods her energetically. She stands next to me and I asked her to hand me ingredients and have her mix the contents.

I set up the dinner table and placed the simple, but neat dishes on the table. Claire and I sit and have a cheerful dinner.

“Wow….this is good!”

I smile.

“Well, you helped make it. I should thank you.”

“Really?”

“Mhm.”

I could tell when she enjoyed making me happy. Just having her around, by my side, in-game and out, was enough to do so.

Tomorrow, I start a tough conflict. Hopefully, Brandon will understand. I’m just wondering how Luna will react.

