Chapter 292 - An Orphan

Discord Link ~ discord.gg/smAesXp

***

"So, what do you want?"

Sora looked at the person driving the car he was currently in as he sat in the passenger seat. He was just 'rescued' from a patrol cop by pretending to be Kayaba's nephew. It worked out well after Kayaba had talked with the patrol officer for a while.

"I need your help," plainly said Kayaba as he kept his eyes on the road diligently.

Keeping quiet, Sora looked at Kayaba for a moment before taking a brief look around the car.

"Is it related to the company you work at?"

"..."

Kayaba remained quiet, making Sora give a small nod as he had a small idea as to what Kayaba needed help with.

"As long as I get a place to live and money, I can work for you," said Sora. He laid back on the chair and looked out the window, looking at everything pass by.

"We will talk this more thoroughly back at my place," said Kayaba with a serious look on his face.

***

Arriving at Kayaba's house, Sora walked in behind him and noticed a woman already inside Kayaba's house.

"Is this the person you mentioned?" asked the woman as she looked at Sora with squinted eyes.

"He is, Rinko," muttered Kayaba with a smile as he put his hands in his pockets.

"Isn't he… a little too young?" asked Rinko as she shot Kayaba a weird look.

"We can just give him a mask. I guarantee his skills. If you don't believe me, we can take him to fight one of the experts we wanted to hire," said Kayaba with a small smile.

"... Fine. Let's do that tomorrow," said Rinko as she sighed and decided to deal with everything the next day.

"Ah… I never asked your name," said Rinko as she looked over to Sora. "My name is Koujiro Rinko. You can call me Big sis or Rinko nee-chan."

"My name's Sora," smiled the young boy with a goofy smile. 'I should start acting the age I look like.'

"Nice to meet you Sora, my name is Kayaba Akihiko. You may call me whichever way you want," said Kayaba as he gave a weak smile. "Come with me, I will lead you to a room to sleep in until we deal with everything."

Sora nodded and followed Kayaba into a room already set up for him. Sora walked into the room whilst Kayaba left to keep Rinko company.

'Ah… young love,' thought Sora as he looked at Kayaba's lovestruck face.

The only time Sora had ever experienced love like that, was when he was a man filled with raging feelings. Now, he was always calm.

He didn't feel much arrogance or pride due to his many years inside the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal and his wives always helping him calm down.

However, now that he was in a world where he can fight with many people, it wouldn't hurt to just let himself go.

As soon as that thought flashed through his head, Sora's face took on a drastic change. From a saint who would help even ants to carry food to a demon who will throw lemon juice on a person's cut.

It was only for a brief moment before Sora's returned to being calm. He gave a light smile and just went straight to sleep to wait for the next day.

Waking up early the next day, Sora remained within his room and just decided to continue practicing Nirvanic Taichi Art.

In two hours, Sora finally completed his daily quota for Nirvanic Taichi Art. He entered his Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal before the others woke up. He washed himself up quickly before giving a brief look over to the forge, anvil, and blacksmith's hammer lying there quietly next to the stone monument.

'I should use that soon…' thought Sora.

If he used the hammer and made some items, he would be able to increase his strength and advance through the Nirvanic Taichi Art perfectly well and quickly. Sora smiled and decided to start when he has the leisure to do so.

Exiting his Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, Sora headed over to Kayaba's kitchen. He found Rinko already there making breakfast for everyone.

"Good morning Rinko nee-chan!" said Sora as he strode over next to Rinko with a big smile.

"Good morning Sora. Did you sleep well?" asked Rinko as she took her eyes off the food for just a few seconds.

"Yeah. Haven't had a nice sleep in a long time," said Sora as he looked at the eggs and bacon Rinko was making.

Sora thought for a bit before heading to the fridge and taking out some items.

"What are you doing?" asked Rinko with a confused look.

"Secret," said Sora before he started making some tasty side-dishes that go well with eggs and bacon.

After finishing, Rinko just looked at Sora for a while with shock before remembering about the food she was cooking.

Kayaba walked into the kitchen with the same clothes from last night. His eyes still sleepy from the lack of sleep. He smelled the delicious smell of the bacon and eggs with a smile, making his sleepiness go away in an instant.

Sora, Rinko, and Kayaba began eating breakfast.

Rinko and Kayaba tasted the side-dishes and felt the taste of the food instantly turn richer in taste. Their eyes widened as they felt the eggs taste and fluffiness improve. With a sweet smile, Rinko turned to the bacon and took a quick bite before feeling herself fall into a meadow of bacon.

"Amazing!" yelled Kayaba in amazement.

"Is it?!" asked Sora with a happy look on his face.

"Yeah, how did you create such a thing?" Kayaba looked at Sora with a clearly interested look on his face about Sora's food.

"That's a secret," said Sora as he gave a sly grin.

Kayaba no longer pressed further and instead continued eating. 'If I could implement this into Sword Art Online, it will become a great stepping stone.'

Kayaba and Rinko continued enjoying their food to the fullest. One focused on the food, and the other focused on a game

Lifting his eyes up from his food, Kayaba looked at Sora and thought, 'What more surprises will he give me...'

Sora took the plates and carried them to the sink where he washed them.

"Work for Argus," said Kayaba without sparing anytime on useless details.

"What will I be doing?" asked Sora seriously after he finished washing the little dishes that were there.

Kayaba kept quiet for the moment and said, "For now, we will hire you to fight."

"Fight?" asked Sora, a bit confused. 'Why would a company wish to hire someone to fight? Am I going to be working like those loan sharks, going house to house asking for money? Haha.'

"Yes, for now, I can't say much until you agree," said Kayaba as he donned on a serious face.

"Hmm..." Sora rubbed his chin and looked to the side for a second before asking, "What's the pay?"

"Depending on how well you do your job, the minimum we will be paying you is 100k dollars a month," said Kayaba after taking a second to think about Sora's pay.

Smiling at the amount he will be paid per month, Sora thought about it a bit more as he accepted Kayaba's job offer.

'It must be a rather dangerous job since I will be earning a lot during a month.' thought Sora as he signed some papers.

"Now, tell me what I will be doing," said Sora as he looked at Kayaba.

"You will be fighting on behalf of Argus against other companies and organizations. Letting Argus win more money for a project we need money for," said Kayaba as he folded his hands in front of himself.

"..." Sora remained quiet as he knew what Kayaba was going to say. He already knew that Argus was in need of money and that Kayaba was looking for him for fighting skills. Just this information was enough for Sora to know that he will be fighting for money.

"In the near future, we might ask for further cooperation of yours to help me in the Sword Art Online project. It's a Virtual Reality game that Argus and I are working on. It will change everything. Your pay will rise according to what we may have in store for you." Kayaba looked at Sora for a second before taking a look at the papers Sora had filled out.

Sora remained quiet at Kayaba's words. He thought about it for a while as he realized that he might be able to have even more fun in this world he is currently in.

If things go well and Sora shows them his expertise in working in technology and the likes, he might be able to improve the game even further.

Smiling, Sora turned to Rinko before looking at Kayaba. With a fierce and fiery look in his eyes, Sora said, "So when do I start fighting?"

"Let us go meet the experts first," said Rinko as she stood up and grabbed her purse. She turned to look at Kayaba who was frowning as he looked at the signed papers.

"Yes…" nodded Kayaba as he put the papers aside and followed behind Rinko. Sora walked ahead of them with a wide smile, excited for the fight that's coming up.

Rinko saw that Sora was far ahead and turned to look at Kayaba. In a low voice, she asked Kayaba, "What's wrong?"

"He… has no last name. This boy might be an orphan," whispered back Kayaba as he looked at Sora with a complicated gaze.

"What?" Rinko's eyes widened in surprise. She looked at Sora with pity and sadness as she thought about Sora growing up all alone.

"..."

Both of them kept quiet, not knowing what to think about Sora being an orphan.

***

Arriving in front of some large gates, Sora, Rinko, and Kayaba got out of the car before staring at the large wooden plaque high above the gates.

[Ryozanpaku]

'There's some powerful people inside,' thought Sora as he felt the cells in his body shake in excitement.

"This is the place where the Masters we tried hiring live," said Kayaba as he looked at the wooden plaque. His body trembled before the huge gate that separated them from the Masters beyond the gate.

"So why did you fail in hiring them?" asked Sora as he walked forward.

Kayaba put on a complicated face as he sighed in disappointment, "The man that came to hire them was too violent. He wished for the Masters here to kill their opponents, but they refused and said that they practice the 'Fist of Life'. A way of living for a martial artist, which only brings life and not death."

Listening closely to Kayaba, Sora nodded.

Kayaba lifted his head and saw Sora pushing the door, he raised his voice and said, "Ah, wait. We're not stro-"

Before he could tell Sora that the door could only be pushed by someone strong, Sora easily pushed open the door with a wide smile.

'I will be experiencing a lot of shocks with this kid here,' thought Kayaba as he turned to look at Rinko with a wry smile.

"What was that?" asked Sora as he turned to look at Kayaba.

"N-nothing," muttered Kayaba as he turned his head to the side.

Walking into Ryozanpaku, Sora took notice of the old style japanese dojo to his left and the main building to the right. He found a man kicking into the air out in the distance as he yelled out.

"Apapapapapapapa!!"

Sora smiled and looked around more before finding a man drinking. His muscles almost ripping out from his clothes as he down a whole bottle of sake.

He found many more people.

A man in a hakama with messy black hair, a short chinese man with chinese clothing and hat on his head, a fairly tall and beautiful young woman with a slender frame yet remarkably curvaceous-figure with big b.r.e.a.s.ts and an enormous butt, she carried a sword and mouse around.

The last person Sora saw was a young girl, almost a year younger than his appearance.

A slender fair-skinned young teenage girl of average height who is consistently viewed as very pretty and attractive with hip-length blonde hair that has short bangs, bright blue eyes and a beauty mark under her left eye. Despite being lean and athletically well-defined in musculature, her most noticeable physical trait is her surprisingly developed and curvaceous frame, especially for a teenage girl: In it, she sports very well-endowed b.r.e.a.s.ts with a slim waist, flared h.i.p.s, firm round buttocks and shapely legs.

'Two beautiful women! Too bad the blondie is still too young. Will have to wait for some years before grabbing her at her most ripe moment,' thought Sora as he looked at the blonde girl.

"Guests!"