A little earlier in the game, Asuna woke up, feeling quite comfortable being sandwiched between Lisbeth and her Master. She tried not to move as she luxuriated in their shared warmth.

  But good things never sted forever, and they couldn’t spend the whole day zing around. Noah soon woke up.

  “Good morning, Asuna. Did you two have fun st night?”

  “Good morning. It was, fun, yes. I can understand why you like being a Master so much. Pying with Liz, making her cum, was an interesting experience.”

  Asuna felt his hand starting to py with her hair, and she arched her back to press against him.

  “I take it she behaved herself?”

  “Yes. She’s been a good girl. I put her in the vacuum bed. She likes it a lot.”

  As if hearing that they were talking about her, Lisbeth opened her eyes and stirred.

  “Good morning, Liz.”

  “Good morning, Asuna... Master.”

  “Morning, Lisbeth. Asuna was telling me about how you’ve been a good girl. You did well, sve. Keep it up, and there will be plenty more of that to come.”

  Lisbeth blushed as she looked away.

  “We don’t have a stalker problem anymore.” She heard him say.

  “Oh? Did something happen?”

  “You could say that. A few hours ago, shortly before I intended to return home, I was ambushed by four Laughing Coffin members, including our creep Cradeel. I dealt with the problem. The rest of the SAO pyers are now significantly safer. I told Argo, and she’s going to spread the news.”

  “I’m gd they’re gone, but why did you tell Argo? When we get out and the people outside learn about it, the police might cause you trouble.”

  “No, they won’t. This is a clear-cut case of self-defense. Almost as soon as we get out, I’ll call a press conference and reveal to them who my backer is. And I’ll do a few things to prove it. They won’t dare try to lock me up. And if they still do, nothing can stop my backer from taking us away to the next test. When we return, we’ll be too powerful for the police to do anything about us.”

  “You have a backer? Someone powerful enough to pressure the police? And what is this test?” wondered Lisbeth.

  “Sorry, Lisbeth, but you’ll have to wait until we clear SAO to learn more about this matter.”

  Asuna saw the icon of a chat request lit up.

  “Master, I’m getting a chat request from Argo. It’s unusual, this early in the morning.”

  Noah winced.

  “She likely wants to warn you about how much of an evil scumbag I am. I put a sve choker and the leather chastity belt you tried before on her, and she isn’t taking is well, to put it mildly. We aren’t really on speaking terms right now.”

  “Oh... I can understand how she feels… Do you think she’ll try to warn Suzu and Kaede, too?”

  “…That’s a risk. I didn’t think about that. Try to talk to her.”

  Asuna nodded, and opened the chat window.

  “Good morning, Argo. You woke me up. How are you doing?”

  “Not very well. I need to speak to you face to face, urgently, and alone. Noah must not come with you. It’s important. Can you meet with me?”

  “Sure. Where do you want to meet?”

  “Can we meet in the castle’s pza, as soon as possible?”

  “I’ll take a quick shower and be there in about an hour.”

  “Thanks. See you.”

  “See you.”

  Asuna closed the chat and looked at Noah.

  “She’s asked me to meet with her alone. I have your permission, right?”

  “Yes. Try to cheer her up a little, if you can. While you are doing that, I’ll take care of Lisbeth, prepare something for lunch, then I’ll go hunt with Kaede and Suzu. Join us when you’re done.”

  “I’ll join you ter.”

  Asuna left the bed and headed for the shower. She would have to walk for a good 40 minutes to reach the castle, so she had no time to lose. She quickly washed herself, dressed up in her guild uniform, and asked Noah to teleport her outside. She could eat breakfast ter.

  When she reached the pza, Argo was already there. She looked exhausted.

  “Hey, Argo.” Asuna smiled softly when she came in easy talking distance.

  “Sorry to bother you, Asuna. You came alone, right?”

  “Yes, I’m alone. Noah told me about Laughing Coffin. Now that this Cradeel is gone and that there’s a lot less murderers around, traveling alone isn’t too much of an issue anymore.”

  “You didn’t do your braids today.”

  “That’s right. I was in a hurry. Should we go elsewhere to talk?”

  Argo nodded.

  “Please come with me. I took a room in a different inn.”

  Asuna followed Argo to her new room.

  When Argo closed the door of her room behind them, she pressed her back against it, looked at Asuna with hesitation, and took a deep breath.

  “Asuna, please sit down. I need to warn you, before it’s too te. You probably won’t believe me, but Noah…”

  “It’s about what he did to you st night, right?” said Asuna gently.

  Argo gasped in shock.

  “What… did he tell you, exactly?”

  “He put the choker and the belt on you. I tried another belt just like this one st week, for two days, and, it was both a lot of fun, and at the same time, not fun at all. When it will become active, it will at random times make you feel like you’re being licked, or it will vibrate. Only a few seconds at a time, and it won’t be nearly enough to bring you close to the edge, but you won’t be able to forget about its presence. Wearing the belt for a long time will be very… frustrating. I know from experience. Which is exactly why he put it on you, to make sure you would come back to him again, no matter how angry you are with him right now.”

  Argo looked stunned for a moment, then a thought occurred to her, and she flinched.

  “Asuna… did he make you, his sve?”

  Asuna nodded. She slowly walked closer to Argo and hugged her.

  “I appreciate you trying to warn me, Argo. It means a lot to me. I had just agreed to become Noah’s sve the night before the two of us met, on the first floor. Why do you think I accepted sharing him? But I do not regret it for a second. I may be his sve, but Noah treats me like his lover. I know he wants to treat you the same way.”

  “But the thing he did to me, it’s just wrong! He abused my trust!”

  “Yes, that was really bad of him, I agree with you... Argo, I’m sorry if I’m being nosy or viote your privacy, but Noah told me, about you liking sex more when you are tied up, and being scared of it. Can you tell me why you are scared?”

  Argo made a complicated face, and sighed.

  “Because it’s perverted. And I like it too much. I’ll grow addicted to it.”

  “Yes, but so what? It’s not like it would be an unhealthy addiction, like with smoking of doing drugs, or like it would hurt someone else. Isn’t it normal for human beings to want to indulge in things we find pleasurable?”

  “But I don’t want to become a pervert. It would become known eventually, and my social and future professional life would be over.”

  “You do not need to worry about that. You will still have a fulfilling and meaningful career no matter what people know or think about your sexual preferences.” Said Asuna as she released Argo and took a step back.

  “Ah? What do you mean?”

  “There are things that I just can’t tell you yet, Argo. I’m sorry about that. But Noah is destined to have a high-ranking and influential position. I’m speaking at the level of heads of state. And us, as both his partners and direct subordinates, will be the envy of many. There will be no ck of people wanting to worm their way into our good graces.”

  “Tell me you’re bullshitting me.” replied Argo, not believing a word of it.

  “I’m very serious. Noah and the person behind him both want to do things that will end up helping a lot of people. But to be effective, he will need reliable information, from a trustful source, and that is one of the reasons he wants you, Argo. You’re skilled at building networks and gathering information. Noah needs you.”

  “And, assuming you’re telling the truth, being famous is supposed to convince me to accept becoming a pervert? It only increases the chances of being found out.” Argo raised an eyebrow as she looked in doubt at her friend.

  Asuna shrugged.

  “Well, not really. I was only telling you this so you’d know that you do not have to worry about your future career. But returning to the matter of your current predicament… As your friend, I can only advise you to quickly give in, Argo. I’m not saying you should just forgive him for this, and maybe you can use the guilt he feels about what he’s done to you to work out some kind of compromise. But you love him, and he loves you. You can be just as happy as I am, if you just stop being so concerned about the opinions of other people.”

  “As Noah’s sve, I also give you the same advice. No matter what happens, Noah will not give up on you. He will only change his methods. He told me that, as a Dominant, abandoning a reluctant submissive in a half-trained state is the worst sin a would-be Master could commit, as it would only result in the sub being traumatized. That is the one thing he will never do. It is his responsibility to complete the training, so that the submissive would come to love being a sve and remember her training with fondness, not fear and disgust. One way or another, you will become his, Argo, so why suffer just to dey the inevitable?”

  “Whatever you decide, whenever you need a shoulder to vent your frustrations, I’ll be there for you, Argo. I may be Noah’s sve, but I am also your friend.”

  “…Thank you, Asuna.” sighed Argo.

  “Call me anytime you wish to talk, Argo, or even just a shoulder, and I’ll come running.”

  Asuna squeezed Argo’s shoulder in sympathy, and left the room.

  Argo sat down on her bed, as she repyed their conversation in her mind. Asuna sounded absolutely certain that she would end up becoming Noah’s sve. Her confidence was disturbing. The arousal she still felt because of the belt worried her more. Would she truly be able to resist calling for him tonight if the belt really acted like Asuna had described, when she was already horny from being locked up in it?

  If it was inevitable, maybe making a compromise would be an acceptable outcome.

  Argo finally decided that she would try to resist at first. And if she couldn’t, then, and only then, would she negotiate her surrender.