by Miguel .
Completely spent by the mere four sentences I’d just spoken, I waited for my erstwhile partner’s response.
After about five seconds, she said simply, “I’ll hold it in, then.”
At that, I let out the air that had built in my chest with a long, slow exhale. It couldn’t have been easy for Asuna to hold in the anger at having her strongest beliefs insulted. I wanted to respond to that, but there were no more words. I simply nodded.
After a bit, I heard the whisper in my ear again.
You did well, Kirito.
I had to grin at that. I really had to be losing it, if I was imagining Kizmel’s voice in order to encourage myself...
No.
Wait. Hang on. Unless.
A number of other phrases circled through my brain. I slowly reached up with my right hand, feeling the (supposedly) empty space near my ear.
My fingertips met a soft and squishy surface.
We said brief good-byes to Agil’s team, headed out the rear of the meeting area, and quickly strode down the main street and out of the town gate. Another hundred yards down the road, out of the hearing range of Zumfut’s bustle, I stepped just a bit off the path and into the darkening forest.
Asuna followed me without comment, though the skeptical look on her face demanded an explanation for the sudden move. Rather than elaborate, I turned to an otherwise empty spot and asked, “Are you there, Kizmel?”
Asuna’s eyes went wide with surprise, and she looked all around.
For a while, there was no response but the chirping of birds and rustling of leaves, but it was broken by the sound of rippling cloth. A laugh emerged from the opposite direction of where I was looking.
“So you noticed.”
I spun around just in time to catch sight of the dark elf whipping her long cape back. Even with her Hiding status removed, the knight’s tall form seemed to be melting into the dim shadows of the trees. Her onyx eyes glittered with mischief.
“How could I not notice?” I asked, choosing not to note that she was the one who spoke to me. Until I heard that whisper in my ear, I never would have imagined that Kizmel had not stayed back in the dark elf camp but used her cape’s hiding charm to make herself invisible so she could follow us the entire time.
I just stared at the grinning Kizmel; I didn’t even know what to ask first. Asuna filled the gap.
“Uh...Kizmel...? How long have you been there...?”
That was indeed a big issue. If Kizmel had trailed us ever since we left the base camp, she would have, witnessed the scene where Lind’s team started on the “Jade Key” quest–and sided with the forest elf knight against the male dark elf.
Contrary to my fears, the slain dark elf wasn’t an identical replica of Kizmel, but it still must have been a difficult sight for her to process. If she had been present while we watched, how did she interpret that sight?
But Asuna did not share my apprehension. Like Kizmel, she tossed her hood back and pressed the elf further, her face reddening.
“...Were you also...in the room with us?”
That was another major issue. Even setting aside the simple fact that we did nap in the same room together, there was also the question of if we said anything embarrassing that we wouldn’t want overheard. I tried to remember what had happened eight hours before, but fortunately, Kizmel shook her head.
“No, I spotted you in the meeting place at the center of the town. It wasn’t until the late afternoon that I used the teleporting charm to come within range...”
That was right–she had mentioned such a power. I was partly relieved, but my suspicions had not been entirely undone.
Was this development even supposed to be possible? Were NPCs not registered with a party allowed to leave their designated areas of activity and chase down human players?
And when Kizmel whispered in my ear at the center of Zumfut, it was within the safe haven of town. Even if it were possible that a player being chased by monsters could run into town and actually have them follow him in, the frighteningly powerful guards at the gate would dispatch the creature at once.
Plus, Kizmel was a yellow-cursored NPC to us, as we were actively taking part in the dark elf side of the campaign, but she would be a red-cursored monster to any other player. It must be true to the guards of Zumfut as well, so if her Hiding effect had worn off for any reason, the results would have been disastrous. Of course, Kizmel was tremendously strong by herself, so she might have been able to hold off the guards long enough to flee into the forest.
I tried as best I could to corral all of these questions into one simple enough to ask.
“So, um, why did you come all the way to the human town...?”
Perhaps it was my mind playing tricks on me, but I thought I saw her face blush a bit out of shyness, but her expression was serious as she answered, “It was my duty.”
“D-duty?”
“Yes. The commander has given me a mission: to serve and protect you. You did not return for many hours after leaving this morning, so I simply left to see how you were doing.”
“Simply, huh? Is it really safe to go all the way into the middle of town like that? What if your hiding–er, deception charm wore off?”
Now her face seemed to take on a note of pride. She stroked the oddly gleaming cape.
“This Mistmoon Cloak is most effective at the evening and morning hours when sunlight and moonlight switch places. Its charm will not break, even with a little physical contact.”
“Aha...I see,” I replied, looking at my fingertips and recalling the squishy sensation, while Asuna’s brow furrowed in slight consternation.
“...He touched you?”
“Yes. You might be surprised; Kirito is quite–”
“Quite the cloak, I must say!” I interjected hastily, trying to steer the conversation away from the brewing storm clouds. I broke out in a nervous sweat just thinking about what part of Kizmel I might have touched and how close I’d come to being automatically thrown into the game’s prison for harassment. But for now, the questions were over. I looked upward.
The sky–technically, the bottom of the floor above–peeking through the branches was almost entirely purple, with just a few traces of red remaining. I’d been planning to eat dinner in Zumfut after the meeting, but I didn’t want to wander back into town with Kizmel tagging along out of sight, and I also couldn’t force her to just wait out here in the forest, abandoned.
“Asuna, I’m thinking we should just go back to the camp. Is that okay with you?” I asked. She shot me a glance that said I’d still have to answer on the previous topic, but kept her face neutral as she replied.
“All right. Especially since Kizmel came all this way to see us.”
She shut her mouth but appeared to want to say more. I peered at her patiently, prompting her to continue. But Asuna looked down at the ground and prodded a bluish-purple mushroom with the toe of her boot.
“Um...I was thinking, maybe we should just stay around the elf camp all the way up to the boss battle.”
“Huh? W-well...I guess we can get all the info we need on the state of progress from Agil and Argo, and there are plenty of supplies at the camp...but I thought you really liked that hotel room in Zumfut.”
“I got to see the view once, and that was enough. Besides, I don’t want to be anywhere near those guild people right now.”
“...I see.”
Once you caught a case of Stay-Away Syndrome in an MMORPG, it could be extremely hard to break (as I knew from experience), but I understood how she felt, and I didn’t have any room to argue otherwise, so I took her comment in stride and turned to the elf.
“Kizmel, do you mind if we stay in the tent with you, starting tonight...and lasting for a week or so?”
“I do not mind,” she said simply. Her smile was more beautiful than any NPC’s expression–more beautiful than any player’s, in fact. “I would be delighted for you to call it home. Let us live together until our goals are
met.”
“...Great, thanks.”
The phrase live together seemed to take on a new, fresh meaning coming from her. Asuna nodded in agreement but turned away just as quickly. In the dying rays of the sun, the contours of her rapier, breastplate, and fine cheek lines were a blazing red.
Sadly, the teleportation charm from the dark elf camp to the forest near the main town was a one-way ticket, so we had to retrace our steps from the morning, only now through the gloomy evening mists.
There was no avoiding the monsters, of course, but Asuna and I had recently earned significant upgrades, and we had the powerful elf knight as our travel companion. Both Kizmel and I were level 15, but as an elite unit within the game, her power was not dictated by level alone. We traveled with Asuna and Kizmel in the front and me in the rear. Any mobs who approached from the right were dispatched with a single attack and sword skill from Asuna’s Chivalric Rapier +5, and those from the left were met with the same by Kizmel’s long saber. I barely had to lift a finger. I still got the shared experience and col from being in the party, but it felt a bit disappointing to not take part, and my mind began to wander due to inactivity.
On the one hand, I thought about the DKB and ALS, who had effectively split the frontline player population between themselves, and our duo’s role in all of it.
I told Asuna I didn’t want her to die, as a means to prevent her from throwing herself at Lind. That wasn’t just an excuse I made up on the spot–it was how I really felt. But as a result, I’d extended the terms of our temporary partnership. The logical part of my brain deduced that her odds of survival rose if she was part of a big guild, but I just couldn’t tell her we needed to break up the team. I still didn’t know why the words caught in my throat.
At any rate, I had to take responsibility for my statement. I had to make her more powerful, to dedicate myself even harder to that task. I had to teach her more, not just about her movement in battle, but her stats, the types of gear, and other knowledge of the game.
That day marked a week since we teamed up on the second floor, and during that time, I’d held to a simple stance: If she asked, I answered. Over and over, she demanded to know why I hadn’t said something or other earlier. Perhaps it was my resignation to the role of beater. But now was the time to snap myself out of that passive attitude...
But on the other hand, the subconscious parts of my mind grappled with something else entirely: the mysterious actions of Kizmel, the NPC knight.
What was she, anyway?
It was beyond obvious that she was not an ordinary NPC. Her natural conversation style and ample emotional range were on a clearly higher level than the shopkeepers, guards, and hotel clerks in Zumfut, and even the other dark elves in the camp with her. It was as though Kizmel thought, felt, and expressed herself, unbound by the normal constraints of NPC algorithms. Otherwise, she would never have boldly followed Asuna and me into the human town far from her home base.
If she wasn’t a normal NPC, there were two possibilities.
One: For some unknown reason, Kizmel was granted a high-functioning AI, rather than the simple chat hots that only responded to a set of keywords.
Two: Also for some unknown reason, Kizmel was actually a
player. Or to be more precise, a human role-player who was acting out the character of a dark elf.
Both were hard to believe. I wanted to think that the latter could not be the case. If that were true, the person behind Kizmel wasn’t a fellow prisoner of SAO but someone aligned with those who had plotted to turn it into its current trap...one of the administrators.
There was no way Kizmel could be Akihiko Kayaba, but even if it was an accomplice of his, I couldn’t see them earnestly helping us advance in the game. Perhaps I ought to consider the possibility that she was plotting to lead us into some kind of trap ahead...
“...!”
I shook my head vigorously to dispel that dark notion. I didn’t want to be suspicious of Kizmel. The last thing I wanted to do was imagine that the earnest sadness as she mourned at the grave of her sister Tilnel was nothing but a cynical act.
I looked up and fixed my gaze on the back of the fencer ahead and to my right. I had to protect Asuna, to make her stronger. Strong enough that if I died, she would be able to survive this perilous world on her own. That was my responsibility now that I’d chosen not to break us apart.
But what if Kizmel really was leading us into a trap? If there was even a slight chance of that being true...
“Kirito,” came a voice from my left. I looked up in surprise and locked eyes with the dark elf. The consternation and concern in her face were so natural that I felt shame for my suspicion, and my desire to learn the truth about her grew even more.
“You have been silent for quite some time. Is something the matter?”
“Er, it’s nothing. Just thinking...”
“Ahh. Sometimes it is best to speak your worries aloud and free yourself from their weight.”
Asuna turned back and added, “That’s right. I’ve noticed recently that you’re the type of person who gets depressed on his own because you overthink everything. Just speak up before you get any stupid ideas.”
“Well, that’s...true, I suppose...”
I glanced around under their withering stares, but there was no escape. Yet I couldn’t say the things I’d just been thinking. Instead, I put on an awkward smile and thought up a lame excuse.
“J-just thinking, you’re both so strong and handy to have around...”
“What in the world would make you think so hard about that?”
“Uh, just, erm, thinking, uh...which one of you I’d want to have as a wife...”
Wait. Scratch that. Reload from save point.
My eyes darted around, looking for the load button. Asuna gaped at me in total disbelief, then sucked in a deep breath and bellowed, “Are you really that stupid?!”
Meanwhile, Kizmel grunted in understanding without batting an eye.
“I’m sorry, Kirito. That will require Her Majesty’s permission,” she said, utterly straight-faced.
“N-no, that’s perfectly all right,” I reassured her, shaking my head and hands. My mind immediately went down an escapist tunnel–instead of MMOs, maybe I should have played those games with all the romantic choices to make instead. A teenager who loved dating sims wouldn’t have gotten himself trapped in this situation. Maybe there really was a market for full-dive romance games with deadly stakes. But what would you have to do to die in such a game...?
Asuna snapped me out of that ugly spiral with a chilly “We’re here.”
I nearly asked her where that was, until I remembered that our little journey had a destination after all.
Ahead, the thick forest opened up, and triangular flags could be seen rippling in the trailing mist. It was the familiar sight of the dark elf base.
Biting back a rueful sigh at my own relief, I decided to forget the shameful display I’d put on just a minute ago and picked up my pace to catch up to the women.
In the end, I left both the fighting and the navigation to the other two. It was hard not to feel like my stock had fallen during the trip from Zumfut to the camp, but if there was one thing I learned, it was that nothing good came from moping on my own.
Whether Kizmel was AI or human, it didn’t change the fact that we helped her and she helped us. I wanted to be around Kizmel for as long as possible–and I was sure Asuna agreed on that point. That was all I needed for now.
If progress continued in accordance with Kibaou’s challenge to the crowd, the boss battle against the third-floor boss would take place in six days: December 21. Until then, we’d accomplish as much as we could use this camp as our home. We’d continue with the campaign quest, acquire new armor and upgrade it, increase our skill proficiency, and gain information. There was a mountain of tasks to see to.
When we passed through the narrow canyon of magical mists and into the camp, I breathed in a lungful of the
strangely scented air and told myself it was time to get cracking.
6
In the long-distant past...
The world was split into the forest elven kingdom of Kales’Oh, the dark elven kingdom of Lyusula, the human Alliance of the Nine, the underground realm of the dwarves, and various other groupings along racial lines, and while there were skirmishes at times, the land was at peace.
But one day, something happened, and a hundred varied regions from around the world were cut in circles from the earth and summoned up to the sky. The circles were under two miles across at the smallest and over six at the largest. They were stacked in a conical formation to form a gigantic floating fortress a hundred floors tall.
This castle held its countless towns and villages, mountains, forests and lakes, and never again returned to earth. The magic powers that caused the old civilizations to flourish were lost, and with them, the nine kingdoms of man. Most towns reverted to maintaining themselves, and the floors lost contact with one another. A great length of time passed. Legends and tales of the Great Separation still existed among the two elf races, the only people to keep their kingdoms intact from that fateful time...
“...and that’s how the story goes,” I said, summarizing the backstory of Aincrad’s genesis as best I’d learned it that day while
I leaned back against the tent. A watery voice answered from behind my back.
“Hmm...So it feels like we learned some stuff, but none of it is very useful.”
“Pretty much,” I replied, looking up with my hands folded behind my head. Beyond the steam issuing from the exhaust pipe built into the roof of the bathing tent, the bottom of the fourth floor gleamed dark and foreboding.
According to elf legend, someone had yanked the ground straight out of the earth and connected it all with a framework of steel and stone so that the pieces were stacked one atop the other. Of course, the true creators of SAO were Kayaba and the Argus staff, and the legends of the Great Separation were nothing but background info they’d added to the game, but it was hard not to be curious about it all. Who had created this floating castle and why? Was it the whim of a godlike figure, or the work of a human, or elf, or something else?