"I run a general store, and I can't cook a rare S-rank ingredient like the Golden Catfish myself, so I was going to sell it. The thing is, Kirito was just here this morning and also wanted it. He didn't have enough money, so he said he'd come back for it tomorrow after he got the money."
Agil rubbed his bald head, looking troubled. If the person who ordered it was a stranger, he wouldn't mind giving Asuna a discount. But both Kirito and Asuna were his friends, which made it a tough call.
"Kirito wanted the Golden Catfish? I thought his cooking skill was just as low as Seiya's. Wait... Sachi's cooking skill is high. They're married in the game now, so Sachi must be the one who will cook the Golden Catfish."
"Ah! I don't care! It would be a huge disrespect to food if I didn't get my hands on a legendary ingredient like this! Agil, how much did Kirito offer? I'll pay double!"
After a moment of hesitation, Asuna chose food over friendship and doubled the bid.
"Asuna, you have to understand that a rare S-rank ingredient like the Golden Catfish is different from other ingredients. I promised Kirito I'd sell it to him for 200,000 Col. If you pay double, that's 400,000 Col. And what about Kirito?"
As players' levels increased, Col became less valuable, but 400,000 Col was still a huge sum of money. If the game's charging channels were still open, it would be worth over 100,000 yen. It was a luxury to spend that much on a single ingredient. Most players would rather use that money to buy equipment. Even though SAO could perfectly replicate the taste of food, most players would rather use that much money to get better gear than to satisfy their cravings.
"Three times! I'll pay three times the price for the Golden Catfish. That's a fair deal for Kirito, right? After all, you're a merchant, Agil. It's a first-come, first-served market. Who knows when Kirito will get enough money?"
Six hundred thousand Col. Even Agil's heart skipped a beat at Asuna's offer. After hesitating for a few seconds, he accepted her offer. He was a merchant, after all. Kirito, a poor guy, had to scrounge up 200,000 Col, but Asuna offered three times the price and was ready to pay on the spot. There was no need to hesitate.
In reality, it would have been difficult for Asuna to get 600,000 Col at once. But she didn't have to. She had a friend who was rich. Asuna opened her inventory and, seeing the eight-digit number in the shared currency section, effortlessly transferred 600,000 Col to Agil.
After handing the Golden Catfish over to Asuna, Agil said enviously, "I sometimes envy Seiya. The famous 'Flash' is now a housewife who cooks for him every day. I bet if all the male players who admire 'The Flash' find out, Seiya will be torn to shreds."
Asuna glared at him. "I think he's not the only one who will be torn to shreds."
That's right, six months had passed since the dungeon exploration with The Moonlit Black Cats. Two months after that day, Kirito and Sachi officially became a couple and got married in the game. After getting married, Kirito spent all his savings on a house on the 50th floor of Aincrad and invited Seiya, Asuna, and his other friends to a party. This was why a top player like Kirito didn't even have enough money to buy an S-rank ingredient.
When Seiya found out that Kirito had really married Sachi, he was stunned. He thought Asuna was better than Sachi in every way—looks, body, and personality. But Kirito still chose his first love, which proved that "first love is the most beautiful." Because Kirito was married to Sachi, Seiya, who had been keeping his distance from Asuna, started to open up. He felt that he was partly responsible for Asuna losing her position as the "official girlfriend," so he felt guilty. Because of this, Seiya and Asuna's relationship grew stronger.
A little over a month ago, during a boss fight on the 50th floor, Asuna was careless and was stabbed by the boss, and her HP dropped to zero. Feeling that her life was about to end, Asuna confessed her feelings to Seiya. Just as her body was about to turn into fragments and disappear, Seiya took out an item, The Gift of Christmas, and used it on her. The Gift of Christmas was a rare item dropped by the Christmas event boss, Nicholas the Renegade, in the Lost Forest on the 35th floor. It could revive a dead player within ten seconds.
Many powerful guilds, including The Holy Dragon Alliance, had tried to get the item, but Seiya had managed to get it. In the original story, it was Kirito who got the item. But now that The Moonlit Black Cats were safe and Sachi was alive, Kirito wasn't so obsessed with it. Seiya, on the other hand, just thought the "revival item" would be worth a lot of money, so he went for it, never thinking he would actually need to use it.