Yuiha opened her eyes slowly.
The bed beside her was empty like every morning these past few weeks, ever since Silver had started his “project.”
She opened her menu and got dressed quickly. Then she accessed their shared storage and checked their progress: forty-five logs and three hundred ninety-six pieces of lumber. As Silver’s woodcutting skill rose, so did the odds of getting perfectly cut logs.
He left the inn before sunrise. He chopped trees in the forest until she arrived with breakfast. They ate together, then headed back to the front to help with mapping the highest floor. If they returned early, Silver spent another hour chopping—almost always with her nearby.
Yuiha smiled at the thought of his stubborn consistency.
She went down to Floor 13, where, according to her, you could find the best bread in the whole tower. She returned to the inn, made a few simple sandwiches, and set off toward the forest.
The sharp, violent thunk of an axe biting into wood guided her without needing the map.
She found him in a clearing just as a tree burst into fragments of light, leaving behind a perfectly round log. Silver stored it and turned when he sensed her.
—You show no mercy to those poor trees —Yuiha teased.
—Good thing they respawn after a while, like monsters —he said.— Otherwise I’d already be in trouble with the city authorities.
They sat on a new blanket. Yuiha handed out food and drinks.
—It’s wild they can build a hundred-floor tower… and still not invent a thermos for coffee —Silver complained, sipping a cold juice.
—If there are no thermoses, it’s because you don’t need them to live here —she replied with a smile.
Silver looked at her in silence, then couldn’t help smiling too. Yuiha truly loved this world.
—What? —she asked, catching his stare.
—Nothing. It still amazes me how you defend this place.
Yuiha’s smile softened.
—Because Aincrad is beautiful. Almost magical. This world isn’t guilty of what its creator turned it into.
Her eyes flickered with a trace of pain as she said it.
Silver leaned in, wrapped his arms around her, and rested his chin on her head.
—You’re right. This world is beautiful. I wouldn’t mind staying here… if it’s with you.
Yuiha looked up and found a solemn seriousness in his eyes. She let out a small laugh.
—You’re impossible.
—I’m honest.
—What about your family? Your friends?
—You’re the most important thing to me.
She held his gaze a moment, then slowly brushed his cheek.
—This world is our home right now. But don’t settle for only this. We’re going back to the real world. We’re getting our lives back. And we’re going to keep living there.
Silver’s eyes reddened with emotion.
—You really won’t forget me when we get out?
Yuiha traced his face with her fingers—his cheek, his nose… and when she reached his forehead, she flicked it hard.
It didn’t do damage, they were in a safe zone, but it was strong enough to knock him backward onto the ground.
—Why did you do that? —Silver asked, baffled.
—Because you deserved it, Ba-ka —she said, frowning.
Silver sat back up. Yuiha took his face in both hands.
—I couldn’t forget you even if I tried. So stop thinking stupid things.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
He let out a relieved laugh.
Yuiha rose gracefully, dusted off her clothes, and equipped her light armor and Coral Edge.
—Come on. They need us on the front line. For everyone trapped in here… counting on us.
Silver took the hand she offered and stood.
* * * * *
September 12, 2023. 9:53 a.m. — Everwoods, Floor 22
Silver’s swing made the log explode into hundreds of polygonal fragments that scattered through the air.
—This is ridiculous! —he complained bitterly.— Why the hell does the system ask for a crafting skill to cut logs and build a cabin, instead of a lumberjack skill?
Yuiha stood a few steps behind him, trying not to laugh. For two days he’d been trying to split logs in half to start construction, and he kept failing again and again. Out of the hundred and five logs he’d gathered, he’d already lost almost a third.
—You’re not cutting the log —she explained patiently.— You’re trying to process it into usable lumber. The woodcutting skill is only for bringing trees down.
Silver dragged a hand down his face, visibly irritated.
He pulled more logs from inventory and tried again.
TWACK!
TWACK!
TWACK!
TWACK!
…
At last he dropped to the ground, more frustrated than tired.
Yuiha walked over and offered him a steaming cup of coffee.
Silver took it gratefully.
—Where did you get this? —he asked, stunned that it was still hot.
—From my inventory —she said, like it was obvious.
Silver stared at her.
—You can store hot coffee in your inventory?
—You can store any liquid as long as it’s sealed.
Only then did Silver look closer at the cup and notice its carved rim. Then he looked at the matching lid Yuiha held in her other hand.
—Where did you get this?
—I asked a craftsman for it —she said with a smile.
—So it works like a thermos? —he asked, genuinely impressed.
—No. Items in inventory don’t change state. Hot stays hot, cold stays cold. Food durability still drops while stored, but temperature doesn’t change until it despawns.
Silver looked at her like she’d just revealed one of the universe’s great secrets.
—I told you you don’t need a thermos in Aincrad —she said with a soft laugh.
She leaned down and kissed his cheek.
* * * * *
September 16, 2023. 10:26 a.m. — Everwoods, Floor 22
The log count had passed two hundred.
For Silver, it had become a matter of pride.
For Yuiha, it was watching the same guy who faced floor bosses without flinching… now throwing himself, again and again, into a fight against the game’s skill system.
TWACK!
The log began to glow. Slowly, its shape shifted until it became a perfectly straight wooden beam.
—LET’S GOOO! —Silver shouted, fists raised to the sky, eyes wet like he’d just won a championship.
Yuiha clapped as hard as she could, like she was his number one fan.
The beams piled up in their inventory until they hit fifty—an amount Silver declared “enough.”
—Alright —he said, puffing his chest.— Now I just have to start building the house.
—And how exactly are you planning to do that? —she asked, more tender than teasing.
Silver grinned with confidence.
—Remember the New Year’s walk? I had to get carpentry to build that pergola.
Yuiha watched him in silence. She’d forgotten he even had that skill—maybe because he’d never used it again.
—Building a house might be a little more complicated than a pergola —she said, smiling.
—Nothing I can’t fix by leveling the skill. And you know, if I’m good at anything, it’s trying until it works.
She stepped in and hugged him.
—I know. Nobody is more stubborn than you.
—Couldn’t you say nobody is more determined?
—You’re not determined, my love. You’re stubborn —she declared, eyes gleaming with amusement.
* * * * *
September 24, 2023. 8:53 a.m. — Everwoods, Floor 22
Silver kept hammering boards into beams with nails and the best hammer he’d managed to get on the higher floors.
Against all odds, he’d managed to raise a large square pergola.
It wasn’t a house yet, but it was starting to look like one.
With total focus, he nailed planks across the beams to form the outer walls. After several days of work, he’d built something that, if you were generous, you could call a house.
It had no windows: air and light slipped in through the gaps left behind because he’d put the roof on before the walls. There was no door, just a rough opening framed by beams from floor to ceiling.
Inside, it was one huge room. No divisions, no furniture, no decoration. In essence, it was a pergola with walls.
Silver looked at Yuiha with a guilty smile.
—I’ll admit… it’s harder than I thought.
—It’s coming out perfect —she said, looking around.
—I think “perfect” is a bit generous… but at least we’ve got a roof.
Yuiha looked him straight in the eyes.
—It’s perfect, Silver —she insisted.— You built it with your own hands. Nothing beats that.
As for the details… we’ll finish it together, little by little.
Silver smiled like a kid on Christmas.
—We’ll finish it together —he repeated, like it was a promise.