Sword Art Online - Volume 8 - Early and Late

by Reki Kawahara

  “Grimlock really likes an NPC restaurant and would always be there. Maybe he…”

  “Re, really!?”

  I leant my body forward and thought.

  In Aincrad, eating can be said to be the only luxury. But at the same time, it’s hard to find a flavor filled one from those cheap NPC restaurants. Since he liked it to such an extent of going over every day, it was hard for him not to go there in the long run. That’s because I had my 3 meals from 3 different restaurants in a rotational manner. On a side note, those three doesn’t include that enigmatic restaurant we went to just now.

  “Then, please tell me the shop’s name…”

  “I have a condition.”

  Schmitt interrupted me.

  “I can tell you, but I have a condition…let me meet Yoruko.”

  Asuna and I let Schmitt stop at a nearby equipment store, and then started to discuss the condition.

  “There…shouldn’t be any problems, right? What do you think?”

  “Un, well…”

  Asuna asked, but I couldn’t immediately answer and could only ponder out loud.

  If Schmitt —— or Yoruko, who almost definitely couldn’t be the killer in the inside circle incident yesterday, were to meet, they might treat each other as someone to kill. Once they meet, one side might use an «Inside area PK skill» to cause a new victim, and I couldn’t ignore this possibility.

  However, for that to happen, that party would have to equip a weapon and use a sword skill. Such a motion would require opening a window to set up equipment and pressing the OK button. No matter how fast it is, it’ll take about 4, 5 seconds.

  “…With us standing around to watch, there probably won’t be any chance to PK. However —— if it’s not to PK, why did that Schmitt request to meet Yoruko-san today?”

  I move my arms aside, and Asuna seemed to be rather bothered.

  “Who knows…don’t tell me…he’s been secretly admiring her…un, probably not.”

  “Eh, really!?”

  I couldn’t help but look back at that stiff-looking Schmitt, but Asuna immediately pulled my collar to prevent me from doing so.

  “I said it’s not! Anyway…if there’s no danger, we just have to see if Yoruko-san’s willing. I’ll send a message to her to confirm.”

  “O, okay then. I’ll leave it to you.”

  Asuna opened her window and immediately hits the all-view keyboard at a blazing speed. This ‘friend message’ was a convenient function to contact a player far away, but it’s pointless if one only knew the other party’s name, since the person had to log the other party as a friend or a fellow guild member or a marriage partner. That’s why we couldn’t use it to contact Grimlock. We can send an ‘instant message’ once we know the name, but both sides had to be on the same level, and we couldn’t tell if the other party received the message or not.

  Yoruko seemed to answer instantly, and Asuna glanced at the window that was not closed before nodding and saying,

  “She said she’s okay with it. Then…it’s a little uneasy, but we better bring the person over. The location will be the inn where Yoruko-san is in.”

  “Un. It’s too risky to let her come outside.”

  I agreed, and finally manage to turn to look at Schmitt, who was inside the equipment shop. Once he saw me make an OK sign, the heavily equipped hulking figure’s face showed an obvious relieved expression.

  The three of us moved from the 56th floor to the main street of the 57th floor, Marten. Once we walked out from the blue transfer gate, the streets had already been dyed by sunset.

  There were many NPC and merchant players in the plaza with stores and lined up with each other, and there were loud noises of selling coming at us. Between the shops, there were many swordsmen who were here to rest after a day’s worth of hard work. However, they all obviously avoided a spot in the plaza, making the place look very empty.

  That place was the land facing the church. Of course, about 24 hours ago, the guy called Kains mysteriously died here. I forced myself to look forward instead of looking over there, and started to move down the path I walked yesterday.

  A few minutes later, we arrived at the inn and headed up to the second level. After a long walk down the corridor into the deepest place, we arrived at Yoruko’s room —— or rather, a room in which she could hide inside.

  I knocked the door and said “This is Kirito.”

  There was an immediate response from inside the room, and I turned the handle on the door. The lock that was set so that ‘only friends can open’ let out a slight sound before opening.

  After opening the door, I looked in to see the thing right in front of the door, a set of matching sofas placed in the middle of the room, and Yoruko sitting on one of them. She quickly stood up, swayed her deep blue hair and bowed slightly.

  I stood at the door, completely unmoving, looked at Yoruko, and then at Schmitt’s face that was right behind me before saying,

  “Well…first, for safety reasons, I’m going to make this clear to everyone. Both sides are not allowed to equip weapons nor open windows. I hope you can abide by this. I know this may be unpleasant, but please follow these ground rules.”

  “…Okay.”

  “I understand.”

  Yoruko said in a barely audible voice, and Schmitt answered in an anxious voice. I slowly entered the room and lead Schmitt and Asuna in.

  These two ex-«Golden Apple» guild members who may not have met for a long time were only looking at each other silently.

  Yoruko and Schmitt used to be comrades of the same guild, but right now, there must be a difference of about 20 levels between them. Of course, the higher leveled member was definitely Schmitt, who belonged to the clearing guild. However, from what I could see, this strong spear user was a lot more tense than Yoruko.

  In fact, the one who spoke up first was also Yoruko.

  “…It’s been a while, Schmitt.”

  She then smiled. Schmitt bit his lips hard first, and then answered in a hoarse voice,

  “…Un. I thought we wouldn’t meet again. Can I sit down?”

  Yoruko nodded, and this fully-armored hulking figure walked over to the other sofa while his armor is clanked noisily. I think this shouldn’t be comfortable to sit in, but he had no intention of taking off his armor.

  I closed the room and checked that it was locked before standing on the eastern side of where both of them sat, and Asuna stood opposite me.

  We booked the most luxurious room in the inn for Yoruko, who we had expect to stay in for a few days, so even with four people crowding the room, it was still rather wide. The door is at the northern side of the wall, and the west had another door leading to the bedroom. Also, the east and south side each had a window.

  The window on the south side was completely open, and the breeze that carried the spring sunset blowed in freely through the window. Of course, the window was protected by the system, and even when someone opened it, nobody could enter. As this place is a lot taller than the surrounding buildings, one could see the scene of a deep purple street through the gaps of the white curtain.

  The noise of the street that came in with the wind overwhelmed Yoruko’s slightly soft voice.

  “Schmitt, I hear that you’re currently a member of the Divine Dragons Alliance? That’s really amazing. The Divine Dragons Alliance is considered an elite guild amongst the clearing group, right?”

  I felt that this was a sincere praise, but Schmitt’s wrinkles near his eyebrows became deeper. He said in a deep tone,

  “What do you mean by that? Isn’t that too unnatural?”

  This abnormally direct answer caused me to frown, but Yoruko didn’t seem to be affected at all.

  “How can that be? I just feel that after the guild disbanded, you must have tried hard to level up. Kains and I gave up after having difficulty leveling, so you’re really amazing compared to us.”

  Yoruko shook aside the deep blue hair that dangled on her shoulders and
smiled again.

  She’s not as ridiculously fully equipped like Schmitt in full armor, but Yoruko was wearing quite a bit too. Her thick dress had a leather vest, and she was wearing a purple velvet tunic. Her shoulders even had a shawl on, and though they couldn’t be compared to metallic armor, with so much clothing on, that should at least increase quite a lot of defense. She looked rather calm right now, but deep inside, she must be feeling anxious.

  At this point, Schmitt couldn’t hide his nervousness as he leaned forward in his armor and said,

  “JUST FORGET ABOUT WHAT’S GOING ON WITH ME! MORE THAN THAT…I want to ask about Kains.”

  He suddenly hushed his voice and continued,

  “Why is Kains still killed at this point? Did that guy…take the ring? Is that guy the one who killed GA’s leader?”

  I immediately understood that GA referred to Golden Apple, the simplified term of calling the «Golden Apple» guild. However, these words basically meant that he had nothing to do with the ring incident and the inside area murder. If this was an act, he could really be an actor.

  On hearing his muttering, Yoruko’s expression finally showed some change for once. She kept her smile and faced Schmitt head on before saying,

  “Impossible. Kains and I really respected the leader from the bottom of our heart. The reason we were against selling the ring was because it would be more pragmatic if we used it to increase the guild’s battle strength instead of selling it in coll. I think she would have the same thoughts as us now.”

  “Tha…that’s what I thought too. Don’t forget that I was against selling the ring. Besides…it’s not that those against it had a motive to steal it. Those who agreed to sell it…those guys who wanted the coll, someone amongst them may have wanted to gain all the profits from the sale!”

  He used his right hand that was protected by the metal gauntlet to slap his own knee, and then cupped his head before saying,

  “But…why did Grimlock still want to take action on Kains now…does he want to kill off the three of us who were opposed to selling the ring? Will you and I become his victims?”

  ——This doesn’t look like an act at all. To me, Schmitt’s agitated side profile showed real fear.

  In comparison to Schmitt, who was scared stiff, Yoruko regained her composure and said something to him.

  “We still can’t confirm that Grimlock killed Kains. Maybe another member requested him to make the short spear…or maybe…”

  She turned her empty stare to the short table in front of the sofa and muttered,

  “Maybe the leader is taking revenge on her own. Ordinary players can’t possibly kill inside the area.”

  “Wha…”

  The muscular man opened his mouth and panted. Even I was starting to feel a little scared when she said this.

  Schmitt stared blankly at the smiling Yoruko and said,

  “But didn’t you just say that Kains didn’t take the ring away…”

  Yoruko didn’t answer immediately as she just stood up and took a step to the right.

  “I couldn’t sleep at all last night. I could only think. Speaking of which, even though the one who killed the guild leader is someone in the guild, but it could be all of us. When that ring drop appeared, there wasn’t any need to vote. We could have just followed the guild leader’s instructions. No, we should have just let her equip that ring. The leader was the strongest swordsman amongst us, and she was the one who could use the ring to the maximum ability. However, we couldn’t give up on our selfish desire, and no one raised such a suggestion. Everyone has been saying that we will one day let GA become part of the clearing group, but no one was thinking about the guild. Everyone was only hoping to make themselves stronger.”

  After saying so many words, Yoruko’s waist touched the frame of the south window.

  She prepared to sit on it and continued,

  “Only one person, only Grimlock-san said to leave it to the leader. That person gave up on his selfish desire and thought about the development of the guild. That’s why that person became like this, and took revenge on us who can’t give up on our desires, and he has the right to take revenge for the guild leader…”

  The silence suddenly engulfed the room, and an icy night wind swayed through the air inside the room.

  Kachan kachan kachan, the weak sounds of metal ringing could soon be heard. The source is the armor from the slightly trembling Schmitt. This battle-hardened elite player looked down with a pale face and muttered in a trance-like state,

  “…Don’t kid around. Stop kidding around. Right now…it’s been half a year…why now…”

  GABAK! He straightened his upper body and suddenly shouts,

  “CAN YOU ACCEPT THAT, YORUKO! YOU’VE BEEN WORKING HARD TILL NOW! HOW CAN YOU JUST GET YOURSELF KILLED BY SUCH AN UNKNOWN METHOD!”

  Schmitt, Asuna and I were all staring at Yoruko at the window.

  This female player, with an illusionary presence around her, let her stare roam through the air, seemingly thinking of how to answer Schmitt’s question.

  Soon after, her lips opened slightly, seemingly about to say something——

  At this moment.

  TONN! A deep sound suddenly echoed through the room. At the same time, Yoruko widened her eyes and opened her mouth wide.

  That slender body started to sway tremendously. She first took a forceful step forward, and then staggered and spun before putting her hand on the open window.

  At this moment, a strong gust of wind blew, and the long hair behind Yoruko swayed with it.

  I saw an unbelievable thing.

  A small black rod-shaped item poked out from the short, glossy, purple tunic.

  As it was too small, I couldn’t tell at the moment what that was. But when I saw that the rod-shaped object was flashing red, I immediately had a bad feeling about this.

  “Ah…!”

  Asuna let out an almost screaming gasp, and I instinctively rushed over immediately.

  I reached my hand out and got ready to pull Yoruko’s body over. But…

  My fingers merely grazed the shawl, and Yoruko’s body fell outside the inn silently.

  “YORUKO-SAN!”

  Just as I shouted out and poked my body out of the window…

  Yoruko’s body fell down onto the stone just like that, and after a bounce, was surrounded by a blue light effect.

  BASHA! The sound of slight breaking could be heard immediately. The polygons shrapnel expanded out with the exploding blue light——

  A second later, an item could be heard landing clearly, leaving only a black dagger on the road.

  Part 7

  How is this possible!

  At this moment, my mind suddenly shouted silently, and there were a lot of reasons for this.

  First, the guest room of the inn should be protected by the system. Even if the window was open, there was absolutely no way for someone to enter or throw it in successfully.

  Also, it was really hard to believe that the small throwing dagger could create a Continuous Pierce damage which could wear out a medium-level player’s HP. It’s impossible for 5 seconds to have passed from the moment the dagger hit Yoruko to the time it disappeared.

  This couldn’t be possibly happening. This killer’s method can’t be considered an «Inside area PK». This was already a horrifying instant death attack.

  I held my breath and felt the absolutely chilling feeling on my back and forced myself to look away from the stone floor where Yoruko had disappeared. I then looked up and widened my eyes like a camera lens to look at the street scene opposite.

  Finally, I saw it.

  About 2 blocks away from the inn, there was a roof of a building that was about as tall as this place.

  A black figure stood over there with the deep purple sunset as a background——

  The person was covered in a pitch black hooded robe, so it was impossible to see the face. I squeezed out the term ‘death god’ from my mind before shouting out,r />
  “THAT BASTARD…!!”

  I let my right leg step on the window sill and shouted back without looking,

  “Asuna, I’ll leave the rest to you!”

  I then jumped towards the building that was separated from this place by the street.

  But even with a revised level in agility, it’s still reckless to jump over 5m without running. I can’t use a landing, and only managed to barely use an extended right hand at the last second to grab onto the side of the roof. I then used my revised level in strength to pull up, spin in the air and land on the roof. At this moment, Asuna’s anxious voice immediately came from behind.

  “YOU CAN’T. KIRITO-KUN!”

  I understand clearly why she wanted to stop me. If I get hit by that flying dagger, there’s a chance that I’ll die immediately.

  However, I really can’t let the criminal who finally appeared go just for the sake of my own safety.

  I was the one who had said to protect Yoruko’s safety. However, I just thought in a very narrow manner that it’ll be alright if we hid inside the inn, and never thought of what might possibly happen. If the system could offer protection, then the street —— the «inside area» should be considered a safe place. Since the enemy can PK inside the area, it’s naturally possible to let the protection in the inn fail. Why didn’t I think about this?

  Standing on the roof far away, the black robed guy has the wind blowing hard at him, looking like he’s mocking this me who’s feeling remorse.

  “HOLD IT RIGHT…!”

  I shouted and started to run forward again before drawing the sword from my back. I can’t deal any damage with my sword on the streets, but at least I can deflect the dagger he throws over.

  I deliberately made sure my dashing speed didn’t slow down as I continued to jump from this roof to the next one. The players walking down below might think that I’m a madman showing off my agility in a performance, but I don’t have time to care about such things as I dragged the hem of my coat and continued to jump and rip through the darkness.

  The assassin in the hooded robe doesn’t seem like he intends to escape or attack as he just watches me close in. As both of us are just separated by 2 buildings, the assassin suddenly puts in right hand into the clutches of the robe. I immediately hold my breath and move the sword in front of me.