Sword Art Online - Volume 8 - Early and Late

by Reki Kawahara

  “That’s half of the money earned when it was sold. Not a single coin has left it.”

  “Eh…?”

  Grimlock looked up at the puzzled and frowning Yoruko, and then looked over at us and said in a hoarse voice,

  “It’s not because of money. I…I had to kill her, while she was still my wife.”

  The round glasses glanced at the moss-riddled tombstone for an instant and quickly turned back, and the craftsman continued his words.

  “Griselda, Grimlock. The Gri at the beginning isn’t a coincidence. She and I, we used the same names in the net games we played before SAO. And if the system allowed it, we were always husband and wife. That’s because…she was my wife in the real world.”

  I was thoroughly shocked deep inside as my mouth opened slightly. Asuna gasped as well as Yoruko and the rest looked extremely surprised.

  “To me, she’s an ideal wife without a flaw. It’s like she was designed as a wife who would follow the husband, who was extremely cute and obedient and never quarrelled. It’s just that…when we were trapped in this world together…she changed…” Grimlock shook his face that was almost covered by the hat and sighed,

  “The one who was scared and trembling when we entered this forced death game was me. What sort of talent was hidden in her…whether it was the battle ability or decision making, Griselda…no, «Yuuko» far exceeded me. Also, that’s not it. Later, she went against my opposition, creating a guild and enlisting members before starting to train. She…as compared to the real world, was filled with even more life…looking extremely fulfilled…as I stood beside her and watched her, even I had to admit that the Yuuko I loved had disappeared. Even if we cleared the game and returned to the real world, the quiet and obedient Yuuko would never come back.

  The shoulders of the longcoat that had buttons in front trembled slightly. Was he mocking himself or feeling the pain of his own loss? I couldn’t tell. That soft voice continued,

  “…Can you understand what I was scared of? If I returned to the real world…and if Yuuko raised the proposal that we’re to divorce…I would never be able to endure the shame. Then…while I was still her husband in this world where killing is legal, I wanted to seal Yuuko in my memories. This wish of mine…I suppose no one can blame me, right…?”

  The slow and horrifying confession ended, and during this time, no one was able to say anything.

  And what I heard was the hoarse voice coming out from my throat.

  “Shame…shame? Because your own wife stopped listening to you…you killed her just for this reason? She trained herself and her friends so that we can all be released from SAO…and hoped to join the clearing group one day, and you…killed her…for such a reason…”

  I used my left wrist to hold down the right hand that was about to reach for the sword on my back.

  Grimlock slowly lifted his face, the bottom of the glasses reflecting a soft light, and muttered at me,

  “Such a reason? Of course not. That’s an ample reason. One day, you’ll understand, Mr Detective. When you get love and are about to lose it.”

  “No, you’re the one in the wrong, Grimlock!”

  The one who argued back wasn’t me, but Asuna.

  The exceptionally pretty face gave an expression even I didn’t know of, and the rapier user said calmly,

  “What you harbored for Griselda wasn’t love, just possessiveness. If you loved her, take off the glove on your left hand. You probably threw the same ring away which Griselda didn’t take off even as she was killed.”

  Grimlock’s shoulders jerked slightly, and just like me, his right hand was holding on to his left.

  However, his hand didn’t do anything else. The craftsman remained silent and didn’t take off the leather glove.

  The one who broke the silence again was Schmitt, who didn’t talk up til now.

  “…Kirito, can you leave this guy’s punishment to us? Of course, we won’t lynch him, but we’ll definitely make him atone for his sins.”

  This calm voice didn’t have any sense of the absolute terror it had several minutes ago.

  I looked up at the muscular guy whose armor let out some sounds and nodded slightly.

  “I got it. I’ll leave it to you then.”

  Schmitt nodded wordlessly and grabbed Grimlock’s right hand to pull him up. After checking that the craftsman with his head lowered wouldn’t run away, he simply said “Sorry to trouble you” and left the hill.

  Yoruko and Caynz, who buried that silver box back in, walked towards us, bowed deeply and exchanged looks with us. Yoruko then said,

  “Asuna-san, Kirito-san. I’m really sorry…I don’t know how to thank you two. Without you two, we would probably be killed here…and Grimlock’s crime won’t be revealed.”

  “No…luckily you managed to remember those two rings in the end. Nicely done. If you return back to the real world, you can be a prosecutor or lawyer.”

  On hearing this, Yoruko smiled and shrugged.

  “No…you two may not believe this, but at that moment, I seemed to have heard the leader’s voice and remembered the rings.”

  “…I see…”

  Both of them bowed again. Asuna and I then watched them walk down the hill, following Schmitt from behind.

  Soon after, the 4 cursors all disappeared into the town. On the hill in the wilderness, there was only the blue moonlight and the steady night wind.

  “…I say, Kirito-kun.”

  Suddenly, Asuna whispered softly.

  “If you…if you get married with someone and found out something about her that you didn’t know about, how will you think?”

  “Eh?”

  This question that I had never considered before caused me to be stunned. I had only lived for 15 years, and this delicate question of life is something I couldn’t understand completely.

  But after thinking about it, I finally said an answer that more or less lacked thought.

  “I’ll probably think that I’m lucky.”

  “Eh?”

  “Tha…that’s because if we’re married, it means that both of us like the areas we can see, right? So if we find a new side after that, and if we still like each other…won’t it be tw, twice the love?”

  I know that it’s really a stupid explanation, but Asuna merely frowned, tilted her head and smiled.

  “I see. That’s weird.”

  “We…weird…”

  “Well, it’s nothing much. Let’s not talk about this…a lot of things have happened, and my stomach is grumbling. Let’s go get something to eat.”

  “Tha, that’s right. Then…that Algade’s specialty that looks like okonomiyaki without the sauce…”

  “Rejected.”

  As expected, Asuna refused it, and suddenly grabbed my shoulder from before.

  Shocked, I turn to look behind, and what was in front of my eyes——

  The umpteenth inexplicable scene ever since I got involved in this ‘inside area incident’ appeared in my eyes.

  In Aincrad, all sorts of senses are digitalized data that can be indicated through process codes, so it’s impossible for supernatural phenomenon to happen.

  So is this a bug is the server I see? Or is it an illusion in my breath?

  Not far away, on the north side of the hill, under the old trees gathered there, beside a moss-riddled tombstone standing there…was a translucent female player giving off a slightly golden light.

  Her slender body has the bare minimum metallic armor. The long sword is tied at her waist, the shield is on her back, and her short-haired head has a serene and beautiful face. Her eyes has a strong glow that I know most players have.

  The eyes of a clearer who wished to use the blade to end this death game.

  This female player who’s giving a serene smile watches Asuna and me wordlessly. However, after a while, she extends her right hand over to us to seemingly hand something over.

  Asuna and I reached our right hands out, and as we felt the warmth, we
clasped onto it tightly. This warmth entered our bodies, lighting the fire within our chest. We opened our mouths and said out the words the form within us.

  “Your will…we’ll definitely carry it on. One day, we’ll definitely beat this game and release everyone for you to see.”

  “Un, definitely, so…please watch over us, Griselda-san.”

  Asuna’s words rode through the night wind and reached the female swordsman. The transparent face showed a large smile——

  And in that instant, nobody was there.

  We put our hands down and remained spaced out over there for quite some time.

  Soon after, Asuna clasped my hand tightly, smiling and saying,

  “Let’s go back. We have to work hard tomorrow.”

  “…Yeah. I want to clear that level by this week.”

  We then turned before walking down the hill, heading towards the main town.

  (END)

  Caliber

  (Alfheim, December 2025)

  Part 1

  “Onii-chan, look at this.”

  With that sound, Suguha handed me a thin tablet terminal. I looked at it sleepily.

  I went to sleep like normal last night, but it seemed like I had a long dream. Maybe it was due to that, this morning at the breakfast table, I had to use strong coffee to forcefully turn my thinking gears that refused to move. However in this situation, a small warning lamp lit in part of my head, and I hesitated whether to accept the tablet or not.

  Because about two weeks ago, in a similar situation and timing, when she handed me a hard copy, it was my secret misdeed—not exactly that serious, but Suguha silently collected evidence of my character conversion from flight type VRMMO «ALfheim Online» (ALO) to the gun battle VRMMO «Gun Gale Online» (GGO). ‘Is this the same as that time, but what have I done recently’, while thinking that, Suguha said with a bitter smile.

  “I am not going to hang you, this time. Just look at it!”

  I fearfully accepted the tablet that was held out again, and took a peek.

  It displayed the same thing as the previous hard copy, a news story from the country’s largest VRMMORPG information site «MMO Tomorrow». However, the page category was not GGO but ALO. When I looked at the first article screenshot, I saw not a player avatar but a landscape. So it was true, it wasn’t a story of a certain Spriggan dressed in black.

  Relieved, I read the headline of the article.

  However right after, I suffered a different kind of shock, and raised my voice when I finished.

  “Wh… Whattt!”

  [The Strongest Legendary Weapon «Holy Sword Excaliber», Discovered At Last!].

  It was written down on the article like that.

  I forgot my previous fatigue and read the text as if devouring it, and a long moan escaped from my mouth.

  “Uh—huh… they found it at last…”

  “Well, I still think it took them a long time.”

  Opposite of me, Suguha spread blueberry jam on her toast, and responded with a pout.

  «Holy Sword Excaliber».

  It was the only weapon in ALO that is said to surpass «Demonic Sword Gram» which the Salamander general Eugene had. However for a long time, other than a small description and picture at the bottom of the weapon introduction section on the official game site, how to obtain it in the game was unknown.

  —No, to be exact, there were only three players that knew, that’s not right, four people. Suguha, Asuna, Yui, and me. We found it at the beginning of this year, in January 2025. Since it was now December 28th, the secret of Excaliber had been kept for nearly a full year.

  “Ah… if it is like this, we should have challenged it again…”

  Old tabletop RPG thing, for example if someone cast a death spell on you, and your dice roll won, you won't die.

  While complaining, I shoved my spoon into the jar of homemade jam which Suguha gave me and scooped the purple jelly onto my toast. Then I spread some whipped butter, making a marbled design. Recently trying to control her calorie intake, Suguha discretely watched me prepare my toast and tried to endure while comparing the toast in her right hand, but her willpower’s saving roll apparently failed, and without a word she pulled the butter jar toward herself.

  Trying to show that she could at least control the amount, she carefully spread the butter sparingly. Suguha took a bite of that toast and corrected my misunderstanding.

  “Keep reading, it has still only been found. It seems that no one has acquired it yet.”

  “What.”

  I who was going to take a big bite into my toast, stopped my hand and stared at the tablet on the table again. It was written in the article that the existence of Excaliber was confirmed, but there was nothing saying that somebody had gotten it. Thinking about it, if a player had acquired it, the article picture would be a screen shot of those guys proudly holding that golden sword.

  “I see, don’t scare me…”

  I mumbled as I took a big bite of my toast this time, and let out a cry of relief. Seeing that, Suguha laughed at my impatience, took the milk carton and poured it into the glass in front of me.

  Today is Sunday, December 28, 2025, 9:30AM. For both Suguha and me, it was the start of winter break, so we were having a slightly late breakfast. Mother seems to have some proofreading left to complete this year, so she flew out of the house earlier with a toast in her mouth. The e-books without the need for a printing office had both advantages and disadvantages.

  Father, whose job took him to New York, was busy as usual, sent an e-mail saying that he was returning home on the 30th. When it was just Suguha and me at the table, our conversation naturally drifted toward ALO, as usual.

  After finishing my first piece of toast, I spoke of my doubts as I spread my second toast with tuna this time.

  “But, then how did they find it? Flight is impossible in Jötunheimr, but Excaliber is at a height where it can only be seen with flight.”

  A year ago, after departing from the Sylph capital and while aiming for the central city Aarun, Suguha (Lyfa) and I (Kirito) finally saw the world tree. But we were immediately swallowed by a giant worm monster, and passed through its digestive tract, then dropped into the Underworld, Jötunheimr.

  We fell into a field populated with giant evil-god class monsters which we could not possibly defeat, and as we tried to reach the stairs to above ground, we came across a very strange scene. A humanoid type evil-god with four arms was attacking an evil-god that looked like a jellyfish with a long nose and the head of an elephant.

  ALO term for Metamorphosis

  Lyfa had shouted “Help the one being bullied!”, and I who had drawn the four armed one into a nearby lake, and when it reached the water, the jellyfish evil-god won. Far from attacking us, that fellow who Lyfa named «Tonkii» took us on its back, and carried us to the center of Jötunheimr. Tonkii, who underwent an «emergence» from a pupa, flew while carrying Lyfa and me to a walkway leading through the canopy to above ground—in the middle of that, we saw it. A huge inverted pyramid dungeon wrapped in the roots of the World Tree hung from the canopy, sealed in a sparkling crystal at the very bottom was a golden sword.

  Suguha seemed to have relived that memory along with me, and with upturned eyes, said with a smile.

  “Onii-chan, at that time you were really at a loss. Whether to return to the ground or jump off Tonkii and try to go through the dungeon and get Excaliber.”

  “W… Well, I hesitated… But I dare say it, people who don’t hesitate there, I won’t recognize them as real net gamers!”

  “Those words are not very cool.”

  Suguha made that assessment while smiling, and looked down seemingly lost in thought. Apparently she was not at a loss on what to spread on her second piece of toast though, for she reached for the tube of tuna spread and whispered.

  “…Tonkii will only come if Onii-chan or I call. …I have not heard of anyone finding another way to fly in Jötunheimr. Does this mean, someone has save
d another elephant jellyfish evil-god like us and succeeded in obtaining the quest flag…”

  “It might be like that… That disgusting… no, unique form evil-god being saved by a whimsical… no, philanthropist person other than Sugu, I am surprised they exist.”

  “He isn’t disgusting! He is cute!”

  While glaring at me, my supposed-to-be 16 year old sister declared that and continued speaking.

  “But, with this, I think it is just a matter of time before someone successfully breaks through the dungeon and gets the sword. It was not discovered until today because it is hard to understand the conditions for the flag activation, but a year has passed and there was the update that introduced Sword Skills, so the degree of difficulty of the dungeon itself should have decreased.”

  “You… are right…”

  Taking a sip of my milk, I nodded.

  It was January this year that we found Excaliber. After that, the administration of ALO was transferred from RECTO Progress to its current venture company, then there was the addition of the Floating Castle Aincrad, causing a huge change in the game. When things finally calmed down in June, Lyfa, Asuna, Yui, and I got on Tonkii’s back again and challenged the dungeon to obtain the Holy Sword Excaliber.

  And failed miserably. That aerial inverted pyramid dungeon was full of the boss type of giant four-armed humanoid evil-gods that had bullied Tonkii, they were so strong as to make us want to cry out “No way―!”. The three of us plus one had gone ahead of time, not to challenge it but to scout it out. At that time we determined that it was impossible, so we swore we would “Challenge it again after we became stronger.”—But.

  The first ten levels of Aincrad were opened when it was put into the game, with up to the 20th level opened up until September, so our plans were focused there. We sometimes went to Jötunheimr to collect materials, and incidentally called Tonkii to play with it, but about Excaliber, since no one else was going after it—or more like no one has found it, a year had passed by like that.