Just so you know, SilverSyko, you're not alone.
There's times when I think that SAO's whole premise is the writer's way of telling a straight-up Fantasy-story with a classic Fantasy setting while still technically keeping the story in Japan. Generally, this doesn't bother me as long as what is presented on screen could conceivably fit in a VR MMO as well.
But I think that this episode really stretches things there.
For me, it's not so much that this army is extorting people for money (the fact they call it "taxes" though is telling to me - It really does make me think of a classic Fantasy story of a Robin Hood-esque hero protecting average townsfolk from harsh medieval tax collectors, and I think that's intentional on the writer's part).
No, for me it's... what the hell are all these three
pre-teen kids (that's what they looked like to me) doing in a VR MMO anyway?!
Three pre-teen kids and their Sensei. And they're clearly not just NPCs, or there'd be no point in the army trying to extort them.
Yui I'm cool with. Yui presents an intriguing mystery while adding a nice family dynamic to Asuna and Kirito (I don't think that it's any coincidence that Yui's character design is one that lends itself to being the
biological daughter of both Asuna and Kirito - you see this most clearly with her hair length and color).
But we're to believe that some pre-teen kids somehow picked up a heavily anticipated VR MMO on launch day, started playing it, and have managed to survive for two years in it? Man, that's a lot to swallow.
Those complaints being made, I really liked the romance bits. I liked the softer, slower-paced feel to it. My biggest general complaint when it comes to SAO is how rushed it often seems to me, so letting things breath a bit was nice to see for a change.
And while the first town situation raised some eyebrows for me, I did love how Asuna resolved it. That was genuinely cool.