Premiere

Premiere (プレミア) is a game adaptation-original character in Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization. Unlike the other main characters, she is a Non-Player Character (NPC), born from the creation of Sword Art: Origin.

Hollow Realization
Premiere was first seen staring unwaveringly at Kirito from among the players in the main plaza of the Town of Beginnings on the day of the beta opening of Sword Art: Origin. When Kirito noticed and tried to reach her, Premiere turned away, saying something inaudible, and disappeared into the crowd.

The next day, Premiere was encountered by Kirito again, who discovered that she was a quest giving NPC. However, Premiere's quest of bringing her outside the town only rewarded one Col on completion. After Yui revealed that Premiere was an NPC with no original coding telling her how to act, Premiere was given her name by Kirito's group and taken under their care until they could learn her original settings.

Some time later, when Kirito met with Asuna to complete a special event quest, Premiere appeared and silently gave them the impression that she desired their assistance with her quest line, thus the two agreed to forgo the special event. Along the way to their destination, the trio stopped to eat some homemade sandwiches, which Premiere enjoyed as she had felt hungry in a sense. After the meal, Kirito suggested taking a scenic detour from Premiere's usual route, during which they decided to explore a cleared cave.

However, upon reaching the end of the cave, the group was surprised to find a path existing in the place of a wall. Wondering what could have caused such a change, they proceeded further into the dungeon and defeated a skeleton miniboss, before finding themselves in a long hall with a mysterious stone on a pedestal at the end. As they approached the stone, Premiere folded her hands in a praying gesture. At that moment, the stone began glowing, only growing doubly brighter when Kirito and Asuna directly handed it to Premiere, who simply commented on its beauty. Stunned at the turn of events, Kirito and Asuna decided that the stone's reaction to Premiere's touch was part of her true quest, and allowed her to take possession of it before returning to the Town of Beginnings to report their findings to their friends.

At a later time, when players were misinformed that killing NPCs would earn them great rewards, Premiere was assaulted by another player, who was only stopped due to the intervention of Kirito and Argo, outside of town. After the player was forced to retreat by an attracted monster, Premiere was warned by Kirito of the possibility that other players might repeat the stunt on her, thus she was asked to allow him to protect her, to which she agreed.

Later, while Kirito, Asuna, and Sinon were discussing how to advance Premiere's quest further, Premiere unexpectedly approached them and personally requested Kirito to teach her how to protect herself. After Kirito hesitantly agreed to train her, Premiere was taken to the fields outside the Town of Beginnings, where she was taught how to wield a rapier, though she initially experienced difficulty performing Sword Skills. She offered to terminate the lesson, as it was merely a personal request, but Kirito encouraged her to continue. With a little more persistence, Premiere finally executed a successful Sword Skill, much to her satisfaction, and they proceeded to practice her techniques on several boars. After the lesson, she was allowed to join Kirito's party in battles outside of town.

A while after Lisbeth's Blacksmith Shop was opened, Premiere approached Asuna and Kirito while they were discussing a dungeon, which was possibly linked to the glowing stone they had found earlier, and greeted them with a line she had learned from another player. Premiere was informed of their findings and invited to join them, to which she agreed with another line she had heard.

About halfway to their destination, a quest marker appeared above Premiere's head just as Asuna and Kirito were considering where to stop for lunch, and at that moment, Premiere requested to take a detour to another location. As the two players agreed to do so, the quest cursor changed color, signifying that the quest had been accepted, and Premiere winced as if it had hurt her. The three followed the quest marker and found the Divine Tree that they had to receive protection from for the quest. Premiere walked past her companions toward the tree, bowed her head, and serenely folded her hands in prayer for several minutes. Once the sound indicating the completion of the quest resounded, Premiere had no objection to the resumption of their journey, though she insisted on having lunch before proceeding.

At the dungeon, the three discovered they had wandered further than the map data they had purchased from Argo had recorded. Deducing they had entered another secret area, similarly to their previous adventure, due to Premiere being in their party, they continued deeper into the cave and faced a ram miniboss. After the monster was dispatched, the group found themselves in a hall similar to the first, with a second mysterious stone on another altar at the end. As Asuna cheered over the accuracy of her finding, Premiere extended her hands and briefly hesitated before taking the stone, whereupon it began to glow like the first one. An inscription described the item as one of six sacred stones bestowed by the Goddess. As the two players speculated on the identity of the Goddess, Premiere confessed she had eaten more than her share of Asuna's lunch, prompting them to laugh. With Premiere in possession of the stone, the group returned to town.

While Premiere attempted to subtly manipulate Kirito into escorting her to another location after the opening of the Jeweled Peak Lakes area, Leafa, Silica, and Lisbeth informed them of a place in the swamps that was potentially related to the former's quest. Premiere and Kirito were led by the girls to the area in question, where they located an ancient dungeon holding the third Sacred Stone in a secret room at the back. Premiere retrieved the stone, which began to glow upon contact, and thanked the others for coming with her. The group searched the site for clues to location of the next quest, but to no avail. After they discussed how the questline felt as though it was unfinished, Premiere was requested to help Silica acquire materials for a quest, to which she agreed.

After Premiere finished assisting the others in gathering enough materials for Silica, she followed them as they trailed a large party that was using NPCs as bait to distract a powerful dragon boss, and joined Kirito and the girls when they volunteered to take the NPCs' place. While the other party left at the conclusion of the battle, Premiere wondered at Kirito's pleased expression and why the other players was arguing with each other before the start of the fight. She was told he was glad they were able to win the battle without any casualties or making enemies of the other party, and that he wanted to protect the future of every life he could, including that of NPCs. As she pondered on his words, the group returned to town.

Some time later, Premiere was invited by and followed Kirito, Asuna, and Yuuki as they led her to a large tree they had found that was similar to the one she had prayed to earlier. Along the way, she grew confused when Yuuki became embarrassed at the thought of riding on Kirito's shoulders in Asuna's presence. As Premiere inquired how much body contact was considered permissible, Asuna quickly located the tree and directed them to it. However, nothing happened that indicated any advancement in Premiere's quest. As the group turned to leave, they encountered Genesis, who noticed Premiere among them and derided Kirito for using her to roleplay as the hero before leaving.

Premiere was later contacted and invited by Kirito once he discovered a place potentially relevant to her quest, agreeing to accompany him when she learned he and everyone else was working together to help her. After they and Asuna proceeded into the dungeon and defeated a lion minoboss, they found the fourth Sacred Stone held in a secret room in the back. Premiere took the stone, which began glowing in her hands, and thanked the others for their assistance and patience. She then discovered an inscription that spoke of two Goddesses, who would descend when the land was covered in chaos and sweep the darkness away. Troubled by this new information, Kirito returned to the Town of Beginnings to disclose their findings to the rest of the group. As they discussed their speculations of Premiere's identity and resolved to complete her quest, Premiere was confused by their references to the Goddess but reassured that they would protect her.

After Kirito's group uncovered that Premiere's quest would lead to the recreation of the events of The Great Separation, followed by the destruction of the newly created Aincrad, Premiere approached the group, requesting to be escorted to the desert.

Gallery

 * See Premiere/Image Gallery