Almost immediately, one of the first children to appear—a boy with short, spiky hair—voiced his disappointment with the visitors.
“What the heck? You don’t even have any swords. Did you really come from above? Don’t you have a sword?” He directed the end of his challenge at Kirito.
“W-well, yes, I do, but…” Kirito answered hesitantly, and the children’s faces lit up again. “Show us, show us,” they demanded.
“Hey! Don’t be rude to people you’ve never met before—I’m sorry, they’re not used to visitors like this…”
The woman bowed so apologetically that Asuna had to rush to reassure her. “No, it’s all right. You’ve got a few weapons stashed in your inventory, right, Kirito? Why don’t you show them?”
“Um, okay.” He nodded and opened his window, fingers flashing. About ten different weapons materialized in turn, piling up on the pew next to him. These were weapons that he’d looted from monsters recently and simply hadn’t taken the time to sell for cash yet.
Kirito produced all the extra items in their inventory that weren’t pieces of equipment already in use, then allowed the excited children to come closer and see. They picked up swords and maces, exclaiming over the weight and cool factor of each. It was a sight to make any protective parent faint, but in the safe zone of the town, they couldn’t hurt themselves with the blades.
“I’m really sorry about this,” the woman said with clear concern, but the delight of the children brought a smile to her face. “Please, come this way. I’ll prepare some tea…”
She led Asuna and Kirito into the small room on the right side of the chapel and served them each a hot, relaxing cup of tea.
“Now, you said you were searching for someone?” the bespectacled woman inquired, seated in the chair across from them.
“Ah, yes. Um…first of all, I’m Asuna, and this is Kirito.”
“Oh! I’m so sorry; I didn’t introduce myself. My name is Sasha.” They bowed to each other.
“And this is Yui,” Asuna continued, stroking Yui’s hair as she slept in her lap. “We found her lost on the twenty-second floor. She seems to be…missing her memory…”
“Oh dear.” Sasha’s deep green eyes went wide behind her glasses.
“She had no equipment or items aside from the clothes she was wearing, and it was hard to imagine that she was living on an upper floor, so we decided to come to the Town of Beginnings to search for her parents or guardian—anyone who might know her. We received word that there were many children living here in this church, so here we are.”
“Ah, I see…”
Sasha’s glance dropped to the table, her hands cradling her teacup.
“There are around twenty children living in this church, from elementary-to middle-school age. I think it’s basically all of the children in this town at the moment. When the game started…”
Her voice was thin, but she spoke firmly.
“Nearly all of the children their age panicked and suffered real mental trauma from the experience. Some of them did venture out of the town to tackle the game, but I think they were an exception to the rule.”
Asuna had been in her final year of middle school when it happened, and she’d experienced what Sasha was describing. She knew that in the days of solitude locked inside her inn room, she’d been dangerously close to a total mental collapse.
“It’s only natural. They’re still at an age where they want to rely on their parents’ protection, but then they’re told they can’t get out and might never return to the real world. These children fell into a state of despondency. Some of them even…severed their connections.”
Sasha’s mouth twisted sharply.
“For the first month after the game started, I was out in the world, leveling up to help beat the game…but one day, I spotted one of these kids on a street corner in town. I just couldn’t leave him to fend for himself, so I brought him to live in my rented inn room with me. Once I’d started that, I couldn’t stop thinking about other children in his situation, so I went around the city trying to round up all the kids I could find. Next thing I knew, I was doing this right here. Seeing people like you, who are fighting for all of us up above…I feel ashamed that I dropped out of our quest.”
“No…no!”
Asuna shook her head, desperately searching for the right words, but they caught in her throat. Luckily, Kirito finished the thought for her.
“That’s not true at all. You’re fighting in your own way, Sasha…and much more bravely than I am.”
“Thank you. But I’m not doing it out of a feeling of duty. It’s quite fun to live with the children.” Sasha grinned, then looked at the sleeping Yui with concern.
“Anyway, for the last two years, we’ve taken a single area of the city each day and looked around every single building there, checking for needy children. I’m certain I would have noticed such a tiny girl. I’m sorry to disappoint you…but I don’t think she was living here.”
“I see,” Asuna murmured, then squeezed Yui again. She pulled herself together to look into Sasha’s face. “Um, I don’t mean to pry, but how are you making enough money to survive each day?”
“Ah. Well, I’m not the only one. There are some older kids who are working to protect this place, and they’re at a high-enough level to be absolutely safe in the fields outside of town. They make sure that we have enough money to eat. It’s just not a very extravagant amount.”
“That’s splendid, though. Based on what we heard earlier, it sounds like people around here consider hunting monsters in the wilderness to be outright suicide,” Kirito said.
Sasha nodded. “I believe virtually everyone remaining in the Town of Beginnings feels that way. I can’t blame them—it’s absolutely true that the risk of death is out there. But in comparison, we’re actually earning more than the average player in this city.”
She had a point. Permanently renting out the private rooms in this church would likely cost a hundred col per day, well in excess of what that fruit hunter could raise.
“But that just means they’ve singled us out now…”
“Who has?”
Sasha’s gentle eyes turned steely hard. She was about to explain when—
“Miss! Miss Sasha! Come quick!”
The door to the room slammed open, and several children piled inside.
“Hey! Show our guests some respect!”
“This is more important than that!” the feisty red-haired boy from before shouted, tears in his eyes. “Gin and the others have been rounded up by the Army!”
“Where?!”
Sasha bolted to her feet, instantly taking charge.
“In the empty lot behind the item shop in sector E-5. About ten soldiers have the alleyway blocked off. Only Cotta managed to get away.”
“All right, I’m coming. I’m sorry about this,” Sasha apologized, turning to Asuna and Kirito, “but I’ve got to help save the children. We’ll continue this later, if that’s all right…”
“We’re going with you, Miss Sasha!” the redhead cried, the other children soon joining in. He raced over to Kirito to plead his case. “Hey mister, let us use your weapons! If we show up with those, the Army will run away!”
“Absolutely not!” Sasha barked. “You will wait right here!”
Kirito had been watching the scene unfold in silence, but now he raised his hand to calm the children. He was typically aloof and distant, but at times like these, he always exhibited a sudden presence. The children quieted down.
“I’m sorry to disappoint you,” he began calmly, “but those weapons are too powerful for you to equip them. We’ll help rescue your friends. Believe it or not, this lady with me is incredibly powerful.”
He shot a quick glance to Asuna, who nodded in assent. She stood up and turned to Sasha.
“Please let us help you with this. The more people, the better.”
“Thank you. That’s very generous of you.”
Sasha bo
wed deeply, then pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose.
“We’d better get running, then!”
Sasha burst out of the church doors and took off at a sprint, her dagger swaying at her hip. Kirito and Asuna, still clutching Yui, followed behind her. Asuna looked back to see that a gaggle of children was pursuing in the rear, but it didn’t seem like Sasha would waste any energy keeping them in the church.
They wove through the trees into the E-6 sector and then down an alley. Sasha was taking them on a shortcut that would offer the most direct route. They raced past NPC shops and through backyards, until a group of figures blocking a narrow alley came into sight. There were at least ten of them, all wearing equipment colored gray-green and black—the uniform of the Army.
Sasha plunged into the alley before finally skidding to a halt. The Army players noticed her approach and turned around, wicked leers upon their faces.
“Well, well, here comes the nanny.”
“Give me back the children,” she commanded, her voice steely.
“You make it sound like we’ve kidnapped them. Don’t worry, you’ll have them back—after we’ve taught them a lesson about how society works.”
“That’s right. Citizens have a duty to pay their taxes.”
The men laughed, their voices cruelly high-pitched. Sasha’s clenched fists began to tremble.
“Gin! Cain! Mina! Are you there?!” she called out over the men, and a frightened girl’s voice came back immediately.
“Help! Please, help us!”
“Forget about the money! Give it all to them right now!”
“But…we can’t,” wailed a boy this time.
“Kee-hee!” One of the men blocking the alleyway giggled involuntarily. “You’ve been lagging on your tax payments, I’m afraid…This is going to cost more than just money.”
“That’s right. We’ll need an equipment tribute. Drop your armor and weapons…everything you’ve got.”
As the men cackled gleefully, Asuna understood what was happening behind them in the alley. These armed “tax collectors” were demanding that the trapped children remove everything they owned, right down to their clothes. A bloodthirsty rage swelled inside of her.
Sasha had arrived at the same conclusion, and she tore into the men as though she might start throwing fists.
“Move it…Get out of the way! Or else I’ll…”
“Or else you’ll what, Nanny? You gonna pay the tax for ’em?”
The gloating men showed no signs of moving.
Within the town zone, a program known as the anti-crime code was in effect at all times, which meant that it was impossible to harm another player or force him to move against his will. The flipside of this code was that malicious players could not be dispersed, either. The result was that certain tactics existed for player harassment—there was the “block” formation being employed here, which trapped players in a tight space, or the “box,” in which the victims were completely surrounded on all sides.
But this only applied to movement on the ground. Asuna turned to her partner and said, “Ready, Kirito?”
“Yeah.”
They nodded to each other and easily leaped into the air. Their agility and strength stats fed directly into the jump height, sending them soaring well over the astonished faces of Sasha and the soldiers and into the blocked-off empty lot.
“Wha—?!” Several of the men leaped backward in shock.
Trapped in a corner of the alley were two boys and one girl in their early teens, huddled together. They’d already removed their equipment and were dressed only in their simple undergarments. Asuna bit her lip, then approached the children and gave them a reassuring smile.
“It’s all right now. Put your equipment back on.”
The wide-eyed kids nodded and rushed to pick up their armor, fiddling with their menus.
“Hey…no, no, no!” bellowed one of the soldiers, who had finally returned to his senses. “Who do you think you are? You’re interfering with Army business!”
“I’ll handle this,” said a man in heavier-looking armor as he strode forward. He appeared to be their leader.
“I don’t recognize you people. Do you understand what it means to defy the Aincrad Liberation Force? We can continue this conversation at our headquarters, if you like.”
His narrow eyes glinted dangerously. He drew a large broadsword from his waist, then approached lazily, slapping the flat of the blade against his palm. The face of the sword caught the light of the low west sun; his armor shone dully, with the unique glow of metal that had never been damaged or repaired.
“Or do you want to take this ‘outside,’ where we can settle it for real? Huh?”
Asuna’s teeth ground audibly at that last comment. She’d thought that settling the matter quietly was best, but from the moment she saw the frightened children, her rage had passed its limit.
“Kirito, can you take Yui?”
She handed the sleeping girl to him, and he tossed back her rapier. She caught it, slid it out of its scabbard, and strode over to the leader.
“Uh…uh…?”
The man’s face was a blank mask of incomprehension, his mouth half agape. Asuna unleashed a thrust at full power into his dumbfounded mug.
Purple lights. An explosive shock wave. The man’s ugly face jerked backward, and he fell onto his rear end, eyes wide with shock.
“If you want a fight, we don’t have to take it outside the city.”
Asuna closed the distance and her right arm flashed again. Another burst, another explosion. The leader’s body shot backward.
“Don’t worry, you’re not losing any HP. But that just means I can keep doing this as long as I want.”
Asuna continued her steady pace. The leader looked up at her, lips trembling. He finally understood what she was doing.
Within the bounds of the city’s anti-crime zone, an invisible wall protected every player from weapon attacks and other damage. But that rule had one other consequence to it: Without damage, an attacker would never be identified by the system as a criminal player.
There was a form of training called “zoned battle” that took advantage of this rule. But as the attacker’s stats and skills increased, the color and sound of the code’s nullifying effect intensified, until sword skills could even knock back the target a little bit. To those unfamiliar with it, the shock was hard to ignore, even if it carried no HP damage.
“A-ah…s-stop…” he wailed each time he was dashed to the ground. “D-don’t just watch…Stop her!!”
The other soldiers came to their senses and drew their weapons. They came from both sides of the alley, realizing that something was going terribly wrong.
They formed a semicircle around Asuna, whose eyes were flashing the way they did in the days when she’d been as driven and focused as a berserker. She leaped without a word, attacking the group head-on.
The alley was suddenly full of sound, the roar of explosions and screams.
Three minutes later, Asuna regained her wits and lowered her rapier. Only a few soldiers remained in the empty lot, fallen with shock. The rest had abandoned their leader and fled.
“Hahh…”
She sighed and sheathed her weapon, then turned around—and found Sasha and the children from the church standing stock-still in silent shock.
“Oh…”
Asuna gasped and took a step back. She looked down, certain that her fiery, uncontrollable rage must have terrified the children. But the spiky-red-haired boy burst with excitement, his eyes sparkling.
“Wow…that was amazing, lady! I’ve never seen anything like it!”
“What did I tell you? She’s incredibly powerful.” Kirito grinned proudly. He was still carrying Yui in his left hand, but he held a sword in his right—he must have taken care of a few soldiers himself.
“Uh…ha-ha.”
Asuna laughed uncomfortably, but the kids all cheered and leaped onto her. Sasha clutched her hands
to her chest, beaming, tears in her eyes.
That was when it happened.
“Everyone’s…hearts,” a tiny voiced echoed. Asuna looked up with a start. Yui was now awake in Kirito’s arm, looking out into space, her right hand outstretched.
Asuna followed the direction of her gaze, but there was nothing there.
“Everyone’s hearts are…one…”
“Yui! What’s the matter, Yui?” Kirito cried. She blinked a few times, seemingly bewildered. Asuna rushed over and held Yui’s hand.
“Do you remember anything, Yui?”
“I…I…”
She squinted, looked down.
“I wasn’t…here…I was in…the deepest deep…”
Yui’s face scrunched up as she tried to remember. She bit her lip, and suddenly—
“Aaah…aaaah!!”
Her head tilted back and a high-pitched scream ripped from her throat.
“…?!”
Asuna was hit with a noise she hadn’t before heard in SAO—a crackle like radio static. Yui’s rigid body began to vibrate powerfully, as though it was going to dash into pieces.
“Y-Yui!” Asuna screamed, holding the little body in an attempt to calm it.
“Mama…I’m scared, Mama!” the little girl wailed. Asuna pulled her out of Kirito’s arms and squeezed her tightly. Within a few seconds, the strange phenomenon stopped, and Yui’s tense body relaxed.
“What was that all about…?” Kirito murmured softly. His question echoed through the silent alley.
3
“Pass me a roll, Mina!”
“Pay attention or you’ll spill!”
“Hey! Miss Sasha, Jin stole my egg!”
“But I gave you my carrots!”
“This is quite an event…”
“Yeah…”
Asuna and Kirito were watching the battleground that was breakfast at the church unfold before their eyes.
They were in the great hall of said church, in Sector E-7 of the Town of Beginnings. Two long tables were jammed with heaping plates of eggs, sausages, and salad. More than twenty children were squashed onto the benches, eating ravenously.
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