As he tilted his head in doubt, Eugeo asked,
“……It’s the tale which even the smallest child in the village knows. Has Kirito also forgotten about this tale?”
“Y……Yeah, I felt like I heard about it before though…… just… a bit different in details, I guess.”
I fearfully tried to dodge his question, Eugeo expression changed into smile like he had no doubt, before nodding.
“I see…… Perhaps, it could be possible that Kirito didn’t come from Norlangarth but one of the three other empires.”
“T-That may be so.”
While I was nodding, I tried to drive him off this dangerous topic and pointed to the hill which we were now considerably close to.
“That is Rulid village, right? Where is Eugeo’s house?”
“What we see is the south gate, my house is near the west gate, so we can’t see it from here.”
“Hmm. The highest tower is… Sister…… Azariya’s church?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
I focused my gaze at the top of the tower, there was a symbol which was a combination of a cross and a circle.
“It’s somehow… even more elegant than I had thought. Someone like me can really stay there?”
“Don’t worry. Sister Azariya is really great person.”
It might not be easy, but if Azariya-san had the same belief in the intrinsic goodness of other people like Eugeo, then the problem wouldn’t occur if I gave sensible responses. But, right now I’m the guy who lacks sensible ideas about this world.
Ideally, if Sister Azariya is the RATH’s resident observer, then the story would be easy. But perhaps, the staff whose purpose is to observe shouldn’t be assigned an important roles like the village chief or the sister. The possibility that he would be one of the very plain villager is higher, I have to find out by any means possible.
But that’s only if they actually placed an observer in this small village…… as I worried, Eugeo and I crossed the moss covered stone bridge which spanned over the narrow waterway, and set foot into the «Rulid village».
Part 3
“Here’s a pillow and a blanket. If the weather is too cold, please move further into the house. Morning Prayer is at 6am, and breakfast starts at 7. You should come along to look, so try to wake up early. Also, going out after the lights are turned off is forbidden. Please take note of that.”
A simple pillow and wool blanket came flying at me with the words that sounded like a torrent, and I hurriedly reached out to receive them.
I sat down on the bed, and the person standing in front of me was a girl that looked twelve. She’s dressed in a black habit with a white collar, and the bright tea-colored hair grew down to the waist. The eyes that were of the same color as the hair were moving in a lively manner, but she seemed to change into a completely different person the moment she started to be in her Sister persona.
The girl called Selka was an apprentice Sister staying at the Church to learn the sacred arts. I didn’t know whether she was also tasked to look after the other young boys and girls who also stayed in the church as her tone to me was as sharp as an older sister or a mother. I could only smile and endure this.
“Then, is there anything else you don’t understand?”
“No, no problems. Thank you very much.”
On hearing me thank her, Selka’s expression eased slightly, only to quickly frown again.
“Then, good night—you know how to turn the lamp off, right?”
“…Ahh. Good night, Selka.”
Selka nodded again and moved out of the room in her slightly oversized habit. I waited for the sound of her footsteps to go further away before heaving a long sigh.
The place I’m staying at was a room on the second level of the church that was hardly used. It’s about 6 tatamis wide, and the room itself had a bed made of cast iron, a table set with a chair, a small bookshelf and a cupboard. I put the wool blanket and the pillow on my knees onto the bedsheet, put both hands behind my head and laid on the bed. The lamp above my head let out a creaking sound as it swayed.
“What exactly is going on here…”
What’s going on? I muttered these words in my heart and recalled everything that happened ever since I was sent into this village.
Eugeo brought me to this village, and we first went to the Guard Sentry Point near the gate. There was a young man who was of a similar age as Eugeo over there called Jink, and he gave me suspicious look at first, but after hearing that I was a «Vector’s lost child», he immediately agreed to let me in.
But as Eugeo was explaining, my eyes were fixed on that simple long sword on Jink’s waist, and didn’t actually hear about what they were talking about. I really wanted to borrow that slightly old long sword from him and try out whether the me in this world—or more accurately, the virtual swordsman Kirito’s sword skills could still be used. It couldn’t be helped that I had such an impulse, but I finally managed to control the urge.
Eugeo and I then left the Sentry Point, and I endured the cautious and bewildered stares of the villagers as I walked down the main street. I kept hearing questions like ‘who is he’, as Eugeo stopped to explain to everyone. We spent about 30 minutes walking before reaching the central plaza of this village. On the way, we even met an old lady carrying a large basket, and she immediately started saying things like ‘such a poor kid’ the moment she saw us and took an apple (or what looked like it) and stuffed it into my hand, making me feel a slight sense of guilt.
The sun had almost set below the horizon by the time we reached the church that was built on the hill and formed a part of the village. We knocked on the door, and a Sister appeared, looking like sternness-personified. This is the Sister Azariya I heard of. I looked at her, and immediately thought of the Minchin-sensei that appeared in the «Little Princess». THIS CAN’T DO! I yelled inside my heart. However, the Sister immediately took me in, which was really not what I expected, and even served me a meal.
After agreeing to meet tomorrow, I bade farewell to Eugeo and went in. After getting to know Selka, the oldest, and the other 6 kids that were younger than her, we sat down at the harmonious dining table (the dishes laid out were potatoes that looked like fried fish. After having my meal, I was interrogated by them, and this was all to be expected. Once I answered all their questions and thoughts that didn’t reveal myself, 3 boys invited me to go bathe with them…just like that, I endured all sorts of trials, and right now, I finally gained release as I laid on the bed in the guest room—that’s what had happened up till now.
‘The accumulating exhaustion of the entire day had already invaded my body, and if I closed my eyes, I could sleep quickly. However, the confusion that attacked me prevented this.
“What’s going on?” I muttered silently to myself.
In conclusion, everyone in this village aside from me was an NPC.
From the first moment I met Jink, to the time when I walked past the villagers in the village, at those moments when I met the old granny who gave me an apple, the stern yet delicate Sister Azariya, the apprentice Sister Selka, the 6 orphaned children; all of them were like Eugeo, having real emotions like me, able to talk normally and able to do the delicate movements of the body. Basically, everyone was human-like. At least, they’re not like the characters that would automatically answer in a VRMMO.
—But, this kind of thing isn’t something that can be done.
Right now, there’s only one Soul Translator at the headquarters in Roppongi, and the company itself was going to roll out 3 machines, which would make it 4. That’s what the developer Higa said. Even if we added in one or two units, it should be impossible to create a Dive system for enough people to form a village. Even as I was walking and observing, there were at least 300 villagers in Rulid, and that large STL experimental machine couldn’t possibly be mass produced. Also, if we added in the few villages and cities in this world and the people of the fabled «Capital», even if they invested a lo
t of money to add new machines, it should be impossible to secretly gather thousands of test players.
“…Speaking of which.”
Eugeo and the rest aren’t real humans—they’re players with restricted memories, I guess? Or are they automatic answering programs that far exceed what I know…?
On thinking about this, my mind immediately thought of the term «Artificial Intelligence».
In recent years, AIs, the electronic assistance for password codes, car navigation, and home electric appliance use, have been greatly developed. Once they hear a command given, a character, that’s like a human or an animal, can correctly operate or obtain the necessary information. Besides these, there are other AIs, like the NPCs I’m familiar with in VR games. Though their main functions are to provide quests or event information, they can still answer casual dialogue to a certain extent. A group of people who believed in having «Moe NPCs» will always camp beside the beauty-types and talk with them.
Of course, these AIs don’t really have intelligence. Basically put, they’re just a collection of commands that only know how to answer certain questions. Thus, if they end up seeing a question that’s not in the database, the NPC will most likely smile nicely or tilt their heads to say something like ‘I don’t understand what you mean’.
However, Eugeo never showed anything like this today.
He showed all sorts of natural emotions like ‘shock’, ‘doubt’ and laughter’ with regards to all my questions and made appropriate responses. It wasn’t just Eugeo who was like this, as the Sister Azariya, Selka and those young kids were all like that. There was no instance where they showed an expression of ‘being unable to find the data’.
As far as I know, amongst the current Artificial Intelligence, the highest standard is the AI called Yui, the counseling program who was developed for maintenance in the old SAO, and has now become Asuna’s and my ‘daughter’. During those two years, she continued to talk to countless players and monitor them, and had managed to build up a large and amazing database for response. Right now, she’s at a level where she can be considered ‘an automatic answering program’ and a ‘real intelligence’.
However, even Yui isn’t perfect. Sometimes, she would tilt her head as the database didn’t have the information, and would sometimes mistake a human’s ‘apparent anger’ with ‘awkwardness of trying to hide embarrassment’. For just that moment, she would show that small ‘AI-like’ expression.
However, Eugeo, Selka and the rest didn’t show such a thing. If all the villagers in Rulid were…AIs the programmers created as boys, girls, old grannies, adults and so, in a certain sense, the STL has a very advanced Over-Technology. But in the end, I really can’t imagine it actually working…
I thought about this, got up from the bed and let my feet land on the floor.
There was an old oil lamp at the wall where the top of the bed was. The orange-yellowish light flickered, giving off a strange burnt smell. Of course, I never touched such a thing in real life, but the room Asuna and I shared in Alfheim had a similar kind of lamp, so I subconsciously reached over to touch the surface.
However, there wasn’t any pop-up operating window. I suddenly thought of something and used both my fingers to draw in a motion that was not a gesture command, but something called the «Stacia Seal». I then touched the surface of the lamp, and a purple glow appeared there this time. However, the lamp’s durability was the only thing shown, there was no button like lights on, lights out.
Damn it. Selka would definitely not tell me the way to turn off the light that easily without nagging at me first …Just when I was panicking, I finally found a little knob at the base of the lamp. Anyway, let’s try to turn it first. Kyukyu. With a metallic sound, the wick tightened, and the lamp let off a thin trail of smoke before being extinguished. The moonlight pierced through the window, landing inside the room covered in darkness, leaving behind a silvery-white line.
I finally managed to clear this highly difficult mission, and I returned to the bedside, put my pillow at a suitable position and laid back down. I felt a little cold, so I put on the blanket Selka gave me, and soon, I just felt like sleeping.
—If they’re not humans nor AIs, what are they?
In a corner of my thoughts, I already had an answer. However, it felt scary to say it out. Assuming that I’m correct—this developer called RATH has already extended its arms over to the realm of god. When compared to this, the process of using the STL to understand human soul is already at a level where they’re merely playing with the key to Pandora’s Box with their finger.
I entered dreamland and listened to the voice deep inside my consciousness.
Now’s not the time to look for an escape. I have to head to the capital. Once I go there, I’ll find the reason why I exist in this world…
KLANG!!
I seemed to hear a bell from far away.
Just when I treated it as a sound in my dreams, my shoulder just felt like it was being nudged by someone, so I nudged my head into the blanket and grumbled,
“Uu—another 10 minutes…no, 5…”
“No way. It’s already time to wake up.”
“3 minutes…just 3 minutes will do…”
Just as my shoulders continued to shake, a slight sense of disorientation caused me to lose my sleepiness. If it were my younger sister Suguha waking me up, she wouldn’t be using such a slow action, but would be yelling, tugging at my hair, pinching my hair, pinching my nose and doing all sorts of violent acts, or even the devilish act of pulling away the futon.
At this moment, I realized that where I am now is neither reality nor Alfheim, and I poked my face out from the wool blanket. I widened my eyes slightly and exchanged looks with Selka, who was in a neat nun habit. This apprentice Sister lowered her head and looked at me.
“It’s 5.30. The kids have all woken up and washed up. If you don’t hurry, you won’t be able to make it for Worship.”
“…Okay, I’ll come over…”
I left aside the warm bed and the peaceful rest without regrets and sat up. I looked around, and it’s just like my memory from the previous night. This is the guest room in the second floor of the Rulid church. In other words, my body went through the virtual world Underworld that was created by the Soul Translator. Such an amazing experience doesn’t look like it’ll end in one night.
“So it only seemed like a dream, huh?”
“Eh, what?”
On hearing me mutter this phrase, Selka gave a surprised expression. On seeing this, I hurriedly shake my head.
“It, it’s nothing. I’ll get changed and come over. It’s the worship hall on the first level, right?”
“Un, even if you’re a guest or a lost child of Vector, you have to pray to the god of Stacia as long as you stay in the church. Every single cup of water is a blessing of god’s grace, and we have to be grateful to this. That’s what Sister told us…”
She’ll continue rattling on and on if this keeps up, so I hurriedly got off the bed. I flipped this thin shirt, preparing to take off the pajamas I borrowed, and Selka let out a frantic sound.
“It, it’ll start in 20 minutes. Don’t be late! You must wash your face in the well’s water out there!”
Patapata, she walked out of the room and quickly closed the door before vanishing from my sight. This reaction is obviously not something an NPC can do…I thought as I took off my shirt and brought the «Initial Equipment» lying on the chair, the blue short-sleeved tunic to my head. I brought it up to my nose and sniffed at it, only to find that there’s no sweat. As expected, microorganisms and other things like that can’t be replicated. Maybe defects like stains or holes are controlled by the durability value called «Life».
On thinking about this, I pulled out the «Window» attached to the tunic, and the durability was shown as the words [44/45] are shown. Looks like it doesn’t matter for a short time, but if I want to stay in this world for a long time, I have to find a change of clothes and
so I have to find a way to get items and money.
I continued to think as I changed my clothes, and then walked out of the room.
I walked down the stairs and out of the back door beside the kitchen. The beautiful sunrise was already over my head. She said that it’s still not six yet, how do the residents in this world tell the time? I can’t see anything like a clock, whether it’s in the cafeteria or the living room.
I lowered my head and stepped onto the stone path. I soon saw a well chiseled out from stone. The kids seemed to have used it already as the surrounding moss patch was already wet. I opened the lid, threw the wooden basket with the rope attached down, and a nice kalakalapon sound could be heard. I pulled the rope and lifted up a full pail of transparent well water into the tray beside me.
I scooped up the icy cold well water with my hand to wash my face, and also drank a mouthful of it. At this moment, my sleepiness was shaken away completely. I think I slept before 9 yesterday, and even though I woke up early, I should have slept for 8 hours…on thinking about this, I sank into deep thought again.
If this is Underworld, the FLA mechanism is probably still working. If the rate is three times, my actual sleep time should be less than 3 hours. If it’s a fantastical idea like what I had yesterday such that it’s accelerated to 1000 times, it’ll mean that 8 hours is actually the equivalent of less than 30 seconds. Can such a short time really cause the mind to be so awake?
Sword Art Online - Volume 9 - Alicization Beginning Page 18