Sword Art Online - Volume 9 - Alicization Beginning

by Reki Kawahara

  Really, I don’t understand at all. I must get away from here as fast as possible and check the situation…however, the soft voice when I was about to sleep continued to echo in my ears.

  I was able to wake up in this world with the consciousness of Kirito—Kirigaya Kazuto. Whether it’s because of some irregular incident or a certain person’s will, I probably exist here to complete a mission, I guess? I’m not some theorist on life, but on the other hand, I don’t deny that every single existence has a certain purpose. If that’s the case, why is it that so many people lost their lives in the SAO incident…

  Bashaa! I again scooped up another handful of well water and splashed it on my face to interrupt my thoughts. Right now, I have two courses of action. First, I can investigate if there are any RATH workers who know how to log out from here, and second, I have to find a way to the capital in order to discover the purpose I exist in this world.

  The former’s not that complicated to me. I’m not sure about the FLA rate, but with a RATH technician disguised as a villager, they probably won’t stay here for years, even decades. In other words, if residents who left this place on business trips or holidays do exist, it means that they’re very likely to be observers.

  As for the latter—to be honest, there’s no real good way to go about with this. Eugeo said before that riding a horse from here to the capital will take about a week, and if we walk by the shortest route, it’ll take three times the time. If possible, I really want to get a horse, but there’s still no way to go about getting one, and I have no equipment or funds for the trip. Also, I really lack knowledge about this world, and I need a guide. I feel that Eugeo’s the best choice, but he had a «Sacred Task» that he can’t complete in his lifetime.

  I might as well break the Taboo Index and get arrested by that knight or something to make things faster. However, I’ll most probably be taken away to the jail cell directly, and I’ll have to endure a few years of manual labor, having to carry lots of stone slabs. That will require quite some endurance. But before that, I may be sentenced to death.

  Then, I better ask Eugeo whether the sacred arts have some release or revival spells. Just when I’m thinking about this, Selka pokes her head out from the back door of the church, and on seeing me, shouted at me,

  “KIRITO, HOW LONG ARE YOU GOING TO KEEP BATHING!? WORSHIP’S STARTING!!”

  “Ahh, un…sorry, I’ll come over now.”

  I hurriedly raised my hand, put the cover of the well and basket back and hurriedly returned to the building.

  After going through the solemn worship and the noisy breakfast, the kids all went out to do cleaning and washing clothes, while Selka and Sister Azariya head towards the library to learn the same sacred arts. To me, who’s basically living here for free, this caused quite some guilt in me. I harbored such feeling as I walked out of the church’s gate and headed towards the central plaza for Eugeo to come back.

  A few minutes later, a familiar profile with flax-colored hair appeared from the direction of the disappearing morning glow. Then, the clock tower behind the church chimed a simple yet elegant melody.

  “Ahh…I see.”

  On hearing that I’m saying this the moment I met him, Eugeo widened his eyes in surprise.

  “Morning, Kirito. What do you mean by ‘I see’?”

  “Morning, Eugeo. Well, it’s just that…I found that every melody of the bell’s different for every hour. In other words, the villagers here uses this to tell the time.”

  “Of course, that’s how it is. The songs of praise for the «Light of Solus» are divided into 12 rhythms. At every half point, there’ll be a chime. Unfortunately, the sound can’t reach Gigas Cedar, so I can only check the time through the height of Solus.”

  “I see…so that means there are no clocks in this world.”

  I carelessly let out these words, and Eugeo tilted his head slightly.

  “Clock…? What’s that?”

  This is bad. Don’t tell me such a term doesn’t exist here? I gave off cold sweat inside my heart and tried to explain.

  “Erm, a clock is…a tool that’s a round plate with numbers on it and has rotating needles to point the time…”

  On hearing that, Eugeo’s face unexpectedly gave a shine and nodded.

  “Ahh…that. I saw it in the picture books when I was young. A long time ago, the center of the capital seemed to have a building called a «Divine Instrument of Engraved Time», but people often looked up at that divine instrument and never got to work seriously, which angered god, who destroyed that divine instrument with lighting. From then on, humans could only denote the time through the bell sounds.”

  “He, heh…well, I’m always worried about the time when classes are about to end…”

  I said such careless things I didn’t think through again, and luckily, I managed to pass safely this time.

  “Ahaha. That’s how it is. When I was learning at the church, I was always waiting for the noon bell to ring.”

  Eugeo chuckled as he looked away. I followed his line of sight and finally saw the clock tower of the church. In the window that’s designed as a coin-shaped chamfer, bells of all sizes were all shining inside. However, even though the bells were ringing, no one could be seen there.

  “That bell…how exactly does it ring?”

  “…Really, Kirito, how can you forget about that?”

  Eugeo said with a stunned yet delighted voice, coughed midway through, and continued,

  “There’s no need for anyone to go ring it. This is the only Divine Instrument in the village. Every day, it will regularly ring hymns of praises without missing by a second. Of course, it’s not just Rulid village that has this. Zakkaria and the other villages and towns all have them…ahh, but, it’s not just that it is the only Divine Instrument…”

  The energetic Eugeo trailed off, which was very rare, and finally lost his voice at the end, which caused me to frown. However, Eugeo didn’t look like he wanted to continue discussing about this as he clapped his hands lightly and said,

  “Now, I have something I have to do. What plans do you have today, Kirito?”

  “Well…”

  I pondered for a while. Though I really want to venture through this village, I might get into trouble if I moved alone. If I can ask Eugeo about whether there are villagers who went out just like what I imagined, and in order to try and coax Eugeo to head to the capital to accomplish my cruel plan, I have to find out what Eugeo’s Sacred Task is.

  “…If possible, let me help you out today, Eugeo.”

  After thinking this through, I said such words, and Eugeo grinned and nodded.

  “Of course I’ll gladly bring you along. I thought you’d say so too, Kirito. Look, I brought money for buns enough for two.”

  He took out two bronze coins from his shorts, and they let out a clang on his palm.

  “Erm, well, I’m really worried about bothering you there.”

  After seeing me shake my head and hands, Eugeo shrugged and smiled.

  “You don’t have to worry. I earn my pay from the village workplace, and there’s nothing I can actually spend on, so I can only save up.”

  Oh, that’s good, really good. In that case, I have money to go to the capital. My mind started to have such a meaningless thought. Right now, all that’s left is for Eugeo to finish his Sacred Task and cut down the giant tree.

  My heart is thinking of such a cunning plot, but I showed an apologetic look. On seeing me like this, Eugeo still maintained his smile and said, ‘Let’s go’ before walking to the south. I followed him from behind, and then looked back and up to the bell tower that would automatically chime every hour.

  This was really an amazing world. Even though it created a realistic rural life, the presence of a VRMMO still couldn’t be shaken off. In the main streets of all the floors in the floating city Aincrad, there was a bell that indicated the hour.

  Sacred arts—and the Axiom Church; these are most likely fake names for sp
ells and the world’s system. If that’s the case, how can we explain the «Land of Darkness» that exist outside this world? Is it a counter-system…

  While I was in deep thought, Eugeo, who was beside me, arrived in front of what looks like a bread shop and greeted the old lady boss with an apron before buying four buns. I looked inside the shop, and saw that a man dressed like a shopkeeper was kneading the bread. The aroma inside the place floated out through the large window.

  In an hour, or maybe 30 minutes, I can buy bread that’s freshly baked, but being unable to be flexible here is probably part of the «Sacred Task». Eugeo’s job to reach the forest and swing the axe has a fixed timing that can’t be changed easily. As I can only get him to accompany me on this trip once he completes the «Sacred Task», my plan won’t be accomplished that easily.

  But no matter what, the system always has loopholes. Even someone like me of unknown origin and identity is going to work with him as an assistant.

  We moved by the arch on the south and stepped on the path passing through the green wheat fields as we head towards the forest deep inside. From here, I could clearly see the giant tree Gigas Cedar that reached the skies.

  Eugeo and I continued to exchange turns swinging the Dragon Bone Axe hard, and unknowingly, the sun called Solus had already risen to its noon position.

  I continued to move my arms that were feeling as heavy as lead and swung the 500th swing deep into the monstrously large tree. KOONG! The large tree let out sawdust that scattered like sand, which showed that the extremely large durability value of the tree was slightly worn out.

  “Uwahh, can’t do it. I can’t swing anymore.”

  I cried out and threw the axe into the ground before lying on the mossy patch as if my power short-circuited. I received the water bottle Eugeo handed over to me and greedily gulped down the sweet liquid called «Siral Water»—I still have no idea what language this is.

  Eugeo just smiled in a carefree manner as he looked down at me who’s like this now before saying with a teacher-like tone,

  “But you really have quite the talent, Kirito. It’s true. You managed to grasp the basics after just two days.”

  “…But I still can’t catch up to you at all, Eugeo…”

  I sighed and adjusted my sitting position, leaning on the Gigas Cedar with my back.

  As I had been swinging the heavy axe for the entire morning, I’ve gotten a rough grasp of my stats in this world.

  I already knew it, but the stats are far inferior to the superhuman-class strength and agility the swordsman Kirito possessed in the old SAO. Even so, it’s possible that the weak Kirigaya Kazuto in the real world was used as reference. If it’s the me in the real world, once I swing such a heavy axe for an hour like this, I’ll definitely have muscle pains all over the place and be unable to get up on the second day.

  In other words, my current strength now is about the average value of a 17, 18 year old young man in this world. Eugeo’s strength far exceeds mine, as expected of someone who’s been working on this for 7 years.

  Luckily, the feeling of the avatar or the imagination power is still the same or even more efficient than the VRMMOs I played before. Besides, having swung the axe several hundred times while being aware of the weight and trajectory, I finally have the confidence to wield this axe that needs a tremendous amount of strength.

  Also, I’ve been doing such repeated practices of the same routine countless times in the old Aincrad, even skipping sleep and meals to do so, so this might be the area I’m best at. At least I won’t lose to Eugeo in terms of determination—

  No…wait. I think I just missed out something important there…

  “Then, Kirito.”

  Eugeo tossed me two round buns, which interrupted my train of thought. I hurriedly reached for them with my hands.

  “…? What’s wrong? You have a weird expression on your face, you know?”

  “Ah…no…”

  I finally managed to grasp the end of this trail of thought that was about to leave me, but the remaining fragment only gave a vague and puzzling impression that I was thinking of something important. Well, if it’s important, I’ll think of it at this point. I then shrugged my shoulders and thanked Eugeo,

  “Thanks. I’ll take these then. Itadakimasu.”

  “Sorry that the bread is the same as yesterday.”

  “It’s nothing, it’s nothing.”

  I opened my mouth to take a large bite. The taste was good—but to be honest, it was still too hard. Eugeo probably felt the same way as he frowned and tried his best to move his lower jaw.

  Both of us continued to spend several minutes to eat the first bun, and as we exchanged looks with each other, we gave each other slight smiles. Eugeo drank a gulp of Siral water and looked afar.

  “…I really want to let you try out Alice’s pie, Kirito…crispy skin, filled with juicy filling…having it together with freshly squeezed milk, making me feel whether it’s a rare delicacy in this world…”

  As he said this, my tongue inexplicably seem to taste the pie as I drooled. I hurriedly took a bite off the second bun and asked without thinking,

  “Then, Eugeo. That person…Alice, she was taught sacred arts in the church, right? To become the successor to Sister Azariya.”

  “Un, that’s how it was. She was hailed the first prodigy ever since the village was built, and she could use a large number of arts at the age of ten.”

  Eugeo said with a proud tone.

  “Then…the girl learning in the church now called Selka is…”

  “Un…Sister Azariya was really devastated when Alice was taken away by the Integrity Knight, and said that she wouldn’t take in any more disciples. However, the village chief Gasupht managed to convince her, and two years ago, the new apprentice Selka joined the church. She’s Alice’s little sister.”

  “Little sister…heh…”

  If I have to say it, it should be stern big sister. I remembered Selka in my mind who gave such an impression as I said this. Since this Alice is her older sister, she must have loved to take care of others and be a busybody as well. She should be able to become a good couple with Eugeo.

  I thought about this as I glanced at Eugeo. He seemed to have thought of something as he frowned.

  “…As our age difference is 5 years, I haven’t played much with Selka. When I went over to Alice’s house from time to time, she often hid behind her mother or grandmother shyly…her father Gasupht, everyone, and even Sister Azariya all believed that Alice’s little sister had the talent in sacred arts and were looking forward to it…however…”

  “Selka didn’t have the talent like her sister’s, right?”

  On hearing my direct question, Eugeo merely grimaced and nodded.

  “We can’t really say that though. No matter who that person is, when starting with this Sacred Task, he can’t possibly do it well. It’s the same for me, and I only managed to wield this large axe properly after more than 3 years. With perseverance, no matter what kind of Sacred Task it is, it can finally be mastered one day. It’s just that…for Selka who’s just only 12 years old, she’s been working a little too hard…”

  “Too hard?”

  “…At the time Alice started learning the sacred arts, she didn’t stay in the church. She only studied till noon, and then handed the bento over to me before going off to help with housework in the afternoon. But Selka used the reasoning that she didn’t have enough time to study and moved out of the house. It just so happened that Jana and Algu moved into the church, and the Sister herself definitely couldn’t handle them, so Selka probably also had such a reason for moving to the church.”

  I remember seeing Selka who was seriously taking care of the children. I can’t tell how tough it was, but for a twelve-year-old who has to study and take care of 6 kids, it’s probably not easy.

  “I see…and I, a «Vector’s lost child» suddenly moved there. At least I shouldn’t bring trouble about for Selka.”


  I definitely have to wake up at 5.30 from tomorrow on. With such resolve, I continued the topic just now by saying ‘now that you say so’.

  “The kids other than Selka living in that church all lost their parents? Their parents are dead? How did six people get this at the same time in such a peaceful village?”

  On hearing this question, Eugeo looked slightly depressed, and lowered his head to look at the mossland growing not too far away.

  “…It happened 3 years ago. There was an epidemic in the village that was unseen of for almost 100 years, causing 20 people of all ages to die. Sister Azariya and the pharmacist Ivenda tried all sorts of means, but couldn’t cure those people with fever. The kids in the church lost their parents just like that.”

  This unexpected answer caused me to go silent.

  —A contagion? But this is the virtual world. No bacteria or virus can possibly exist here. In other words, the people who died because of the virus were causing out of some intention by the people controlling this world or the system. However, why is that so? Most likely, they want to use some form of calamity on the residents to create some form of burden on them, but why carry out a simulation of such a thing?

  In the end, everything points in one direction. That’s the reason why this world exists—

  “It’s not just epidemics though. Recently, there have been a lot of weird things going on. Stray long-clawed bears, black-furred wolves attacking people in packs, the buds of wheat unable to expand…even the regular horse carriage moving from here to Zakkaria may not show up for months. The reason was said to be…that Goblin tribes appeared there.”

  “Wha, what did you say?”

  I blinked a few times.

  “Goblins…wait, aren’t there knights protecting the boundary of the country?”

  “Of course they are. The dark tribes that are near the Mountain range at the Edge should be instantly wiped up by the Integrity Knights. This is a duty the Integrity Knights have to fulfill, because those tribes are guys that are a lot worse than Alice who only touched a little of the land of darkness.”