Sword Art Online - Volume 10 - Alicization Running

by Reki Kawahara

  Either way—

  If I wanted to move back from Satore's metalcrafts shop in area 7 to the Master Swords Academy in area 5, I would have to pass through area 6, and area 6 was a business district filled with food markets and restaurants, a place full of temptation. It might not be too far of a stretch to say that all the silver and bronze coins that were in my wallet were all spent here whenever I had gone out this year.

  What made it especially dangerous was that it was 2pm on our rest day this afternoon. There was a restaurant on the 3rd Eastern Street called the «Jumping Deer Inn», and when they would bake their trademark honey pies, the sweet aroma would spread throughout the streets, causing my will's Saving Throw to be thoroughly tested. I had never been able to pass this test successfully before.

  “...Hey, Eugeo. It's great that we weren't charged for the compensation of the shield and this guy's grinding.”

  I continued to slow down as I said, and my partner nodded slightly as he answered,

  “...Yeah. I only knew after we joined the Academy that Satore-san's a famous guy who has got the proof of a first-class craftsman. If we paid the proper price, it's likely that our total fortunes still would not be enough to pay for it.”

  “Heh... —then, it might be a little late... but what happens if there's not enough? Will we be arrested on the spot?”

  “They won't go that far either way. At that moment, he'll record it on tab, and you have to come pay it on interest every month.”

  “I-I see...”

  Unlike Aincrad, which used the self-restriction «Cardinal» system to control the col trading sytem, this world seemed to more or less have some civilian economic activity. Then, as a poor student, shouldn't I be working hard for this prosperity?

  I kept this noble motive within me as I proposed something to Eugeo,

  “...Since we settled our money issues, how about 3?”

  My partner then sighed in a I knew this was going to happen manner,

  “Two at most.”

  He answered. I grinned as I nodded my head, and turned my feet to the left front side before running to the shop attendant onee-san that was serving the freshly baked honey pies at the take-out corner.

  Unknowingly, my body got completely used to the black sword, held on my back with a leather strap, since I seemingly couldn't feel that weight anymore. It felt like it had been there for several years.

  Part 4

  The harmony of the honey and the butter danced around in a molten state, performing a symphony. When we reached the Academy, I split off from Eugeo, who intended to head off to Golgosso-sempai's room, and went off the Novice trainee dorm's Duty Office. This was to attain permission from the dorm manager, Miss Azurika to keep this sword as my personal belonging.

  In the real world, if I brought a bladed object that's more than 1m long, I would probably be scolded by the teacher, or the police might even be called in to arrest me. However, this Academy, in this otherworld, was an organization that groomed swordsmen. As long as I had only one real sword, I would be allowed to bring it in.

  As for why I could only bring in one, that was because in this world, all the weapons, including swords, would absorb Sacred Power little by little— the space resources. To put it specifically, weapons that had their Life worn out slightly in a battle would regain their Life slowly if they were kept properly and sheathed... So the sword was basically absorbing the Sacred Power in it's surroundings. Of course, if it became so blunt that it couldn't recover on its own I would have to find a sharpening master, and a blacksmith if it broke or had a break or something.

  If there were no restrictions on allowing students to bring their own swords, a student with weapon mania may end up bringing hundreds of weapons, and after that, his room would have an abnormal amount of Sacred Power being supplied. It seemed this was the reason why only one sword per person was allowed to be brought in.

  As it was a rest day today, even Miss Azurika wasn't at the reception counter, but sitting at the duty office with its door opened, sorting through the documents. After hearing my quick knocking, she lifted her head and blinked her greyish-blue eyes.

  “Is there something wrong, Novice trainee Kirito?”

  “Excuse me... I'm here today to ask for a permit to have a sword as my personal belonging.”

  I bowed slightly, walked in from the door, and quickly looked around the room. There were many leather sealed folders on the bookshelf beside the wall, but there was only a table and a chair. In other words, this woman herself was the one who took care of running this dorm that housed 120 students.

  After hearing my words, Miss Azurika tilted her head slightly, but immediately got up, and took out a folder from the documents on the bookshelf without hesitation. She then took out one of the common documents kept within and put it right in front of me.

  “Write down all the necessary particulars on it.”

  “Yes, understood.”

  I tentatively lowered my head and looked over. On the form, there were the simple items like name, student ID and sword priority. As I thought about how I didn't need a guardian's signature this time, I filled in my name in katakana 'Kirito', the student number '7' —and suddenly, I stopped the pen tip. I recalled things carefully, and though I tried swinging this sword before, I never opened the «window» to check.

  With Miss Azurika staring at me, I hurriedly undid the sackcloth on my bag and removed the leather strap that was buttoned. I opened up the clothed side, intending to open the window by revealing the hilt, and at that moment,

  “...!”

  I lifted my head after hearing that sharp gasp. What entered my eyes was a rare sight of Miss Azurika widening her eyes when she would normally maintain a calm expression.

  “Is-Is... there anything the matter?”

  Miss Azurika blinked a few times after hearing my voice, and then shook her head, “No, it's nothing.”. It seemed that she didn't have anything else to say about this, so I turned my gaze back to the sword, and used two fingers of my right hand to enter the motion command. I tapped the pommel of the sword lightly, and the property window appeared with a ringing-like sound effect.

  The priority that was shown was—«Class 46».

  To think that it was higher than the Divine Tool Blue Rose Sword by 1. No wonder it was so heavy. Once I entered the number in the third column, I wrapped the sword back as how it was, and handed over the completed form.

  ...Is there a problem. Don't tell me there's a limit on priority? I thought impatiently in my mind.

  "Novice Trainee Kirito."

  “Ye-Yes.”

  “You have... the memory of that sword...”

  She spoke till here, but suddenly stopped. Miss Azurika closed her eyes, and when she lifted her eyelids again, those eyes reverted back to the usual stern dorm supervisor eyes.

  “...No, it's nothing. I've received your application. I suppose there's no need for me to emphasize this, but remember, a real sword can only be used for personal training. It can't be used in practical exams and group practices, understood?”

  “Yes!”

  I energetically answered and put on the clothed black sword on my back, as I wondered about whether I should ask about what Miss Azurika said. But as I could expect, I couldn't get an answer from her. Thus, I just made a knight salute and left the duty office.

  I walked down the front corridor, and thought in a perplexed manner,

  Sword's... memory?

  These were inexplicable words. It's true that in this world, all the items, including the swords were recorded with the help of the Mnemonic Visuals. But that was a technology developed by the venture enterprise «RATH» in the real world, so the residents of Underworld logically wouldn't be able to realize this.

  In other words, the 'sword's memory' Miss Azurika talked about should be as what she said. This black sword had some form of memory. But exactly what kind of memory was that? What did she see in this black sword...?

  I searched fo
r an answer to this doubt as I walked out of the dorm, and heard the melody of 3pm bell that rang from the bell tower which was extended out from the roof. It was a lot deeper than the bell I would hear in Rulid Church, but the melody itself was exactly the same.

  The agreed time with Rina-sempai was 5pm.

  I couldn't feel a single bit of unnaturalness when I tested it at Satore's metalworks... I would say that the feeling was rather relieving, as if my beloved sword was revived from the time I was in SAO. However, it would be better for me to test out whether I could use it with the Aincrad secret moves, or sword skills.

  This rest day occurred once every week, and practically all the students born in Centoria had went home, quite a few students born in other places would head out to sightsee, and so the wide Academy grounds were rather empty. Also, there's a forest and a river in the campus grounds, so there were quite a few places for me to practice my moves— even though I said so, I still wanted to eliminate the possibility of other people seeing me. That's because I wanted to practice the «Consecutive Hit Skills» that none of the sects in this world had.

  Why did sword skills exist in Underworld?

  Why didn't consecutive hit skills exist?

  I had been in this world for almost two years, but even till now, I had seen no sign of finding an answer. The only thing I could imagine was that when the RATH technician who was constructing Underworld may have used the «The Seed» package in some sort of way... But even if it was a fact, it still couldn't explain everything.

  As for why, that's because «The Seed» that was freely circulated— the simplified version of the «Cardinal» system didn't have sword skills in them. Right now, in 2026, amongst the many VRMMOs around, only ALO, the completely duplicated copy of the old SAO server, had sword skills. It definitely couldn't be the venture enterprise «Ymir», the operator of ALO, assisting RATH here.

  After that, I could only think of a countless amount of endless baseless guesses. If I wanted to know the truth, I would have to meet the governor at the top of the Centoria Cathedral, and there's no other way.

  Either way— the secret moves of the swordsmen in Underworld were all one-strike skills; like «Vertical» and «Avalanche».

  As for the reason behind this problem, I had some form of deduction already. It's likely that this was the reason why Underworld didn't have any actual fighting. With the absolute law of the Taboo Index, with the invincible soldiers of the Integrity Knights protecting Underworld, all the battles would definitely become «matches». What was promoted was a splendorous, elegant victory. Wasn't this what the swordsmen in this world had been seeking these hundreds of years? To get into a mighty posture from a far distance away before using a single-strike skill to win?

  Also, another reason may be to protect accidents from happening.

  The fights in the local tournaments were all until one side was cornered, and even the Central and higher-level tournaments were such that the first strike would determine the winner. Naturally, consecutive hit skills that wouldn't stop midway through would naturally be avoided.

  In this situation, physique and arm strength would have an advantage, as they would have absolute confidence in the power of their one hits... So it's expected that people like the elite swordsman head, Uolo Levanteinn being able to become strong as a mighty sword user would be strong. If I weren't allowed to use consecutive skill hits during the SAO era, I would definitely be unable to beat a dual-wielding player of the same level.

  This was definitely the same reason why Solterina-sempai kept losing to Chairman Uolo during these two years.

  Even when I perform my consecutive skill hits to Rina-sempai, it will be impossible for her to learn it. Even Eugeo, who had no experience with any existing style, took several months learning the 2 consecutive hit skill «Vertical Arc».

  However, if I could show that a sword skills wasn't just about a magnificent slash from overhead, if I could shake off this doubt in sempai's heart about how the Aincrad-style and the similar Celulute-style were different from the higher Norlangarth style, she should be able to have a chance of winning at the graduation duel.

  I continued to think about this as I walked east, and unknowingly, I reached the east side of the campus.

  The school campus that was surrounded by the fan-shaped walls had the central school campus, a large practice arena, libraries, trainee and instructor dorms, the elite swordsmen dorm and many more buildings within, and yet still had so much space. The walls on the north and south sides had large gates, there was a slightly tall hill on the west side, and a rather large forest on the east side. No matter where it was, I couldn't see any students around.

  Even so, I chose the forest with much more cover just in case. I found an empty clearing in the forest and stopped. The short and thin grass grew thickly like grass on a football field, so there shouldn't be any place where I would be tripped. I looked around, checked that there were only 2-3 butterflies other than me around, and reached my right hand to the back.

  I searched around, undid the sackcloth, and grabbed onto the sword hilt that was revealed. After feeling the leather grip that felt like it would stick onto my hand, I immediately drew the sword out.

  The pitch black longsword that was lit by the sunlight shining through the twigs and leaves was originally made from a branch of the Gigas Cedar, so to put it technically, it should be a «Wooden Sword». But the blade reflected a hard light nobody could imagine. The famed craftsman Satore spent a year grinding this blade out, and on first glance, one could see the terrifying amount of priority... But I couldn't see anything like a «memory» from this thing that couldn't talk.

  I pushed aside these doubts and got into a basic posture. This time, my mind was strongly imagining, unlike the time when I testing the sword in the crafting shop. I imagined the one-strike diagonal sword skill I had used countless times— the «Slant».

  After an instant moment of gathering, the blade let out a bright water-color glow. I used my back foot and right hand to accelerate my sword skill as my body was moved by an invisible hand.

  *Shoobash!* A sharp sound could be heard, and the trajectory of the slash was drawn out in the air. The slanted line disappeared like the flames of the sun as the sword wind drew a straight line, blowing aside the grass on the ground.

  I kept my body in a downswing position and stared at the tree twig that was about 5m in front of me. However, there was no signs of the tree twig breaking even after the effects of the skill disappeared.

  This was to be expected. The basic «Slant» range was 2.5m at most. The power would not be able to reach a place twice the distance away.

  But, even if that were so... the round shield that was about the same 5m away in the craftsman shop shouldn't be sliced. It couldn't possibly be that time, the buckler just happened to have its Life worn out at that timing, and I definitely didn't carry out any sword skills. Eugeo said that 'the sword glowed'... But I had no idea why that happened. I really didn't know anything. I still knew far too little about this world.

  I sighed and stood up straight. I adjusted my breathing and got into position for the next skill.

  I sliced down from right above, and right when the sword was about to touch the ground, I pulled the sword tip back up as if it was bounced up and swung it back up again. 2 consecutive hit skill «Vertical Arc». A sword wind that was more ferocious than before was whipped up as it swayed the grassy ground violently.

  Up till now, I had been practicing sword skills I could use with the wooden sword. I changed the posture of my legs, put the sword at my waist, and twisted my body to the right.

  “...!'”

  I exerted strength wordlessly and unleashed a left horizontal slash. The slash seemed to hit some invisible thing in front of me as its horizontal movement suddenly stopped and turned to the upper right corner. I took another step forward and unleashed a forward short-ranged high-powered slash. This was the 3 consecutive hit skill «Savage Fulcrum».

 
; I wordlessly watched the crimson red trail that looked like the Arabic number 4[4] dissipate in the air. I nodded and continued to prepare the next sword skill. I raised the sword back up directly above me and did an overhead backswing.

  I did a high-level slash, a low-level slash, a forward slash chained in, and then I brought the sword behind me back before letting out a ferocious slash. The blue square drawn in the air continued to spin as it moved forward. The range was large, and there was only a small opening. This was the beloved sword skill of mine in the old SAO, «Vertical Square».

  I managed to execute all four kinds of sword skills successfully without exception.

  In that case, this meant that this black sword had the same level of priority as the Divine Tool «Blue Rose Sword» Eugeo had. However, I already guessed so when I opened the «window» in the dorm duty office and saw the class 46 number.

  It seemed that I would be able to fulfill my promise of showing my high level sword skills to Rina-sempai. Before I heaved a sigh of relief, there was another feeling rumbling in my mind.

  Whenever I used the Blue Rose Sword, I would only be able to use up to sword skills of 4 consecutive hits. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't carry out major skills of 5 consecutive hits or more. Then, what about this black sword? Since I would have to do it sooner or later, and since there's no one around, wouldn't this be a good chance?

  I gripped onto the sword tightly, took a large step forward with my right foot, and gathered imagination filled with strength towards the sword that seemed to be hanging from my left shoulder, ready to unleash.

  Unknowingly, I felt a small sharp pain from the base of my bangs, seemingly warning me, but I removed this unnecessary thought and focused on forming my sword skill.

  *Chka*, *chka*, I saw the blade letting out an orange spark from the corner of my eyes.

  It was a faint glow that was different from the bright effects I saw up till now. I tried my best to imagine the sword skill and maintained the action to get ready, but the sparks continued to fly and had no signs of calming down.