The Strongest Eriri in History

Watching the endless punishment notices flooding the world announcement board, Eriri nodded in satisfaction.

"Wow, I didn't think there were so many lowlifes in the world. It's really scary," murmured Myne, looking at the world announcement with a face full of disdain while holding Eriri's hand.

In just a few minutes, over a thousand players had already been swept out of the game by the system, which meant at least a thousand potential assailants had been stopped.

Of course, many such players were undoubtedly still hiding in the game, but seeing the announcements had probably forced them to stop their criminal thoughts.

Even so, some players were beginning to question the validity of the system warnings. But if they dared to act on those impulses, they would end up no better than the thousand punished before them.

"That's right, so you have to be extra careful, Myne. Your world has a rigid class system, so the likelihood of people like that showing up is way higher than in the modern world. And besides, since you're so cute, you must protect yourself well," Eriri said as she pulled the petite Myne into a hug, rubbing her cheek against Myne's adorably small face.

The game's simulation was so accurate that contact here felt the same as in the real world. Both Eriri and Myne could feel each other's soft, smooth skin.

After a brief pause, Eriri added confidently, "Actually, it'd be best if you just avoided men altogether."

"I know! Besides, I'm already really strong now. If anyone dares mess with me, I won't go easy on them, hmph!" Myne looked up at Eriri with a proud tilt to her head as she nestled in her arms.

"Exactly, that's the way to be. Don't be afraid of anyone, and if you come across someone causing you trouble, just knock them down. If you can't, come to the group and get me."

"Mm-hmm! Thanks, Eriri-nee," Myne replied sweetly, flashing a radiant smile as she gave Eriri a quick kiss on the cheek.

Nearby, Mine watched Eriri and Myne's intimate exchange with envy, her little mouth pouting a bit.

"You're spoiling Myne, Eriri-nee."

Hearing Mine's words, Eriri turned to her with a gentle smile, reaching out to pat her soft hair and lightly pinching her smooth, rosy cheeks.

"I spoil you too, little Mine."

"Hehe!"

Eriri's gestures and words quickly lifted Mine's spirits.

This time, only Mine had returned from the Akame ga Kill world; Akame, Kurome, and Saeko Busujima had all stayed behind to continue working on their mission to ensure the world's peaceful unification.

After watching the stream of notifications finally stop, Eriri turned to Lala. "Lala, does the system in this game have emotions like Peke does?"

"Nope! To avoid any unnecessary incidents, the game's system, which has GM privileges, doesn't have an emotional component and runs purely on programming," Lala explained with a happy smile.

"Would you like it to have intelligence like Peke's? I can add an emotional module to the system."

"Hmm…"

Eriri was about to agree but suddenly remembered the first AI from Sword Art Online, Yui, who had the appearance of an adorable young girl.

With her ability to simulate human emotions, Yui was nearly indistinguishable from a real person.

Though Yui's intelligence and abilities couldn't match those of Peke, whom Lala had created, Eriri thought that the identity of "Yui" alone was more than enough.

Eriri looked over at Asuna, who was playfully hanging out with Chika Fujiwara and Ruri Gokou, and asked, "Asuna, has Yui appeared in the game in your world yet?"

"Not yet, actually. I've been actively looking for her in the game, but I haven't found any trace of her," Asuna replied with a shrug and a helpless smile.

Unlike Lala, she had no way to hack into the game to search for Yui, so she was left searching around by sheer luck.

"Alright, Lala, let's go to Asuna's world in a few days, and we'll extract Yui from the game there. She can be our game system and serve as an actual GM," Eriri decided without hesitation, already planning out Yui's future.

"Sure, no problem! Leave it to me!" Lala agreed readily, not showing the slightest reluctance at the idea of replacing the system she'd created.

Upon hearing their exchange, Asuna eagerly suggested, "That's perfect! I'll be here for two days, so when I head back, you and Lala can come with me!"

"Alright, then that's settled."

...

Time passed quickly, and soon two days had flown by.

During these two days, Asia, Utaha Kasumigaoka, and the others who had just met the newer group members—Myne, Fubuki, and Erina—were able to bond with them.

At Sakura's birthday party, Megumi Kato and the existing group members had gotten to know each other, but Fubuki, Myne, and Erina, who joined later, were unfamiliar to them.

So these two days gave them a chance to get acquainted. As for Mine, she had already become acquainted with Megumi Kato and Utaha Kasumigaoka during her previous three-day stay in the Saekano world.

Over these two days, Eriri spent most of her time with the group immersed in the game.

While they leveled up by defeating monsters and outdoor bosses, thanks to the various experience buffs they had, Eriri and her group's levels far outpaced those of ordinary players.

During this time, some group members returned to their respective worlds.

After enjoying the novelty of a fully immersive game, Myne's enthusiasm for it waned. However, since everyone else was still in the game, she stayed as well, choosing not to log out immediately to go read books.

By the second day, though, Myne decided not to re-enter the game. Since Eriri and the others were still playing, and she didn't want her parents to worry, she returned to her world early.

After all, she could read books anywhere.

Moreover, her current home was no longer that dusty little stone hut with only a single bedroom.

Through her efforts to replicate products from her past life and with help from the group members, her family had become much more prosperous.

They had even purchased a brand-new mansion in the wealthy district, officially leaving the poor district behind.

Before leaving the slums, Myne had quietly used magic to clear all the trash from the streets, making the air in the slums significantly fresher. She took care not to reveal her magic to avoid attracting the nobles' attention. Though she wasn't afraid of nobles due to her abilities, she preferred to quietly focus on her reading.

Mine also returned to the Akame ga Kill world on the second day. It wasn't that she disliked the game, but the mission in her world hadn't been completed yet, and there was still much to be done, so she couldn't afford to spend too much time in the game.

Arche went back as well. She wasn't alone; her two sisters were still at home, so she returned to the Overlord world that night to care for them.

The others, however, were in no hurry to leave. Even Luo Hao, who had lost some interest in the game, stayed in the game with Eriri to accompany her.

Today was the third day since the game launch, which was also the first day back to school for Chika Fujiwara, Kaguya Shinomiya, and Asuna.

Ruri Gokou, on the other hand, had taken time off from school on Thursday, so with the weekend now here, she could happily remain in the Saekano world for another two days.

After breakfast, Chika Fujiwara and Kaguya Shinomiya returned to their world, appearing directly in the student council room at Shuchi'in Academy.

Since it was only 7:30 in the morning, with an hour before classes began, none of the student council members had arrived, so no one saw them materialize through the world portal.

Fubuki, Erina, and Nodoka Haramura returned at the same time, as they each had obligations waiting for them.

Fubuki still had to manage her group and hunt down monsters to increase her hero rank.

As the Tenth Seat on the Elite Ten Council, Erina Nakiri had plenty of matters at Totsuki Culinary Academy awaiting her attention.

Nodoka Haramura, like Chika, had the weekend free but needed to be back at school before class. She was preparing for the national high school mahjong tournament, and missing two days of practice had left her feeling quite apologetic.

Ever since Eriri had rid the High School DxD world of the majority of its top fighters, the various pantheons there were in disarray. As one of the world's top fighters, Rias Gremory was needed to prevent riots.

Unlike Erika and Luo Hao, they couldn't stay in the Saekano world for extended periods. However, they could still come by to visit whenever they had holidays or free time—it only cost 2,000 points to travel back and forth.

The appeal of a fully immersive game remained strong for the younger members of the group.

As for Elaina, she had unexpectedly fallen in love with the new Sword Art Online, so she planned to stay a while longer. Since she was traveling, it didn't matter where her adventures took place. As long as she could experience new scenery and stories, that was enough.

…

"Eriri, let's head over now," Asuna suggested after Chika and the others had left. "By the way, the house you bought with Gabriel is still the same, and the headsets you used for logging in last time are still there. We can head straight there."

At that moment, Ruri Gokou spoke up. "Asuna, aren't you planning to go to school like Chika and Kaguya?"

"How could I possibly focus on school when I haven't even seen Yui yet? I'll just take half a day off if I have to."

"Alright then."

As the saying goes, 'one's company makes one similar'; with Eriri's influence, Asuna no longer feared her strict mother the way she used to before joining the chat group.

Through her own efforts, Asuna had reconciled with her mother.

She had also told her parents about the chat group and had even shown them some of her powers. Her mother was no longer as strict with her as before.

All parents want what's best for their children, so learning that Asuna was no longer an ordinary person and had such strong friends, her mother no longer worried about her future.

She fully supported Asuna's friendships with Eriri and the others, which allowed Asuna to spend two days in the Saekano world and even consider taking half a day off from school.

This would have been unthinkable before.

Eriri's goal this time was simply to retrieve Yui, not to play in that world. They expected to return shortly, so she hadn't invited anyone else along besides Lala.

Soon, Eriri, Lala, and Asuna appeared in the apartment near Asuna's house.

Since Gabriel left, this apartment had been empty for over half a month, but it was still spotless, without any signs of Gabriel's messiness.

Gabriel had given this apartment to Asuna when she left, but Asuna had never considered selling it, keeping it well-maintained as a place for Eriri and the others to stay when they came back.

Without delay, Eriri, Lala, and Asuna found their original VR headsets and logged into the game.

In this world, Eriri and Lala's levels were at the very bottom, though they were still slightly stronger than the kids who had stayed in the starting town since the death game began.

The game was now nearing its end, and, just like in the original story, the raid team had emerged. Kirito, the protagonist with the title of the Black Swordsman, was at the forefront of the raid team.

However, he and Asuna had never interacted and never would.

Since Gabriel's departure, Asuna's playtime had decreased, and her level had fallen behind the game's top players.

Although she had a cheat-like tenfold experience boost, it only minimized the time gap between her and other players.

After all, she could only log in after school, whereas the players trapped in the game could play all day, gaining ten hours of gameplay daily, not including sleep.

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