Sword Art Online - Volume 3 - Fairy Dance

by Reki Kawahara

  “……”

  Lyfa exchanged looks with the pixie who had fallen off of Kirito’s shoulder.

  “Oh no.”

  “Papa…!!”

  They took off at the same time, hurrying to chase after Kirito. After they left the sea of trees, they carefully searched for him in the night sky, and finally found him unsteadily moving off to the right while casting a shadow in the golden moon.

  “Ohohohoh waawaawaa……… Please stop meeee!”

  A miserable scream broke the silence of the night and echoed through the endless sky.

  “…Puu”

  Lyfa and Yui looked at each other, and they could not help laughing.

  “Pfft…Huh…Hahahah…!”

  “I’m sorry papa, so funny ~~~”

  As they hovered side by side in the air, they held their stomach laughing. When they were about to stop, they heard Kirito’s screams, and broke into new gales of laughter.

  Lyfa couldn’t remember the last time she had laughed so hard. This must be the first time since she came to this world.

  After laughing for long enough, Lyfa darted in and grabbed Kirito by the collar so that he stopped flying and finished teaching him the tricks to Voluntary Flight. For a beginner, Kirito was a quick learner. After 10 minute or so of lecture, Kirito could fly freely.

  “Oh … this is … amazing!”

  Kirito shouted as he flew in circles and loops.

  “Yes, that’s right!”

  Lyfa answered with a smile.

  “How to say it, this is exciting! I want to fly forever…”

  “That’s right!”

  Lyfa was also happy, she flew with wings vibrating in the same orbit as Kirito’s, paralleling each other in flight.

  “No fair… Me too!”

  Yui caught up and took a position flying between the two.

  “You should practice minimizing the movement of the lower back and scapula as much as possible. You won’t be able to swing your sword well in aerial combat if you make too many unnecessary movements. Well then, let’s fly to Sylvain like this. Come with me.”

  Lyfa did a tight turn to find their heading in the right direction, then started cruising over the forest. She began to worry she was going too fast for the new flyer Kirito, so she reduced her speed only to have Kirito start to pass her. She looked at Kirito and heard him say:

  “We can go a bit faster if you want.”

  “Ho ho.”

  Lyfa’s smile became predatory as she folded her wings at an acute angle and started speeding up. Kirito heard the sound being produced by her wings increase and accelerated to keep even with her. The pressure of the wind beating against her body increased, and the speed of the wind made hearing anything tricky.

  Surprisingly, Lyfa soon reached 70% of her maximum speed and Kirito was still right by her side. Most people, when they begin to reach the top speed set by the system find their acceleration beginning to become dull, probably due to some kind of psychological pressure. For Kirito to be able to overcome this pressure on his first flight… he must have extraordinary mental strength.

  Lyfa closed her mouth, and began to accelerate to maximum speed. She had never flown a formation at this speed before, mostly because none of her normal teammates were able to match her speed.

  Right now the trees below her eyes looked like a swift current and quickly disappeared behind them. The vibration of her Sylphid wings, made a sound that resembled the high-pitched sound of a stringed instrument, mixed with Kirito’s Spriggan wings, which sounded like a wind instrument, to form a beautiful duet.

  “Ah… too…fast! It’s no use!”

  Yui cried, as she sprang into Kirito’s breast pocket. Kirito and Lyfa looked at each other and laughed.

  When she noticed, the forest was ending just ahead, and dots of light appeared. The brightest light came from the center tower. That is the symbol of Sylph’s capital Sylvian, the “Tower of the Wind”. Soon the city became closer, and in the central street, there are a large number of players coming and going.

  “Oh, I see it!”

  Kirito said over the sound of the wind.

  “We’re landing at the base of the tower in the middle, oh!”

  Lyfa suddenly realized something and the smile on her face became fixed.

  “Kirito-kun, do you know how to land?”

  “…”

  Kirito said as his face stretched into a grimace.

  “I don’t have any idea!”

  “Well….”

  At this time, half of her field of vision was occupied by the huge tower.

  “Sorry, it’s too late, good luck.”

  With an apologize smile, only she started the sudden deceleration needed for landing. Lyfa spread her wings for full breaking and put her feet in front of her and started the landing process.

  “Such a foolish……”

  The Spriggan screamed, Lyfa watched as he barreled toward the outer wall of tower, she sincerely hoped that he would survive his landing.

  After a few seconds, BANG!! As a terrible sound shook the air.

  Part 4

  “Hum, Lyfa is so mean, I think I have now developed a fear of flying.”

  At the bottom of the tower, Kirito was sitting up in the middle of the flower bed where he had crashed.

  “My eyes are spinning…”

  The pixie sitting on his shoulder was reeling with dizziness. Lyfa put her hands on her hips, suppressing laughter and replied:

  “You are too full of enthusiasm. I am surprised you are still alive, I thought you would be dead for sure.”

  “Ah, that’s too much!”

  Kirito hit the tower wall while flying as fast as the game allows, but he still had almost half of his HP left. Not knowing whether he had a naturally strong body or was just lucky, but he was the embodiment of a lot of mysteries for a beginner.

  “Ok ok, I will heal you.”

  Lyfa cast a healing spell as she held out her right hand. Navy blue light spread from the palm of her hand and slowly fell on Kirito’s body.

  “Oh, great. So this is magic.”

  Kirito curiously looked around his body as the bluish light fell like snow.

  “Only Undines can easily use high-ranking recovery magic. But it is an indispensable spell so you should learn it.”

  “So each race has strengths and weaknesses when it comes to magic? What is the specialty of the Spriggan race?”

  “There are two: magic that assists in finding treasure and Illusion magic. As neither of them is usable in battle, it is the most unpopular race.”

  “Ahhh… I really should have done my homework.”

  Kirito shrugged his shoulders, stood up, and turned to look at the city.

  “Oh, this is Sylph city. What a beautiful place.”

  “Right?”

  Lyfa once again looked around the hometown she had lived in for so long.

  «Sylvain», also known as the «Emerald capital», is a city that lives up to its name. Spires of varying green shades rise along a complex airy corridors which connect the streets. Bursting out of each tower is brilliant dark green light that gives the city an impression of a fantasy kingdom. Behind the «Tower of Wind» is the «Lord’s Mansion», a magnificent building, which Lyfa is confident that it’s superior to most of the buildings in ALfheim.

  They silently looked at the city of light, watching the flow of people coming and going, and suddenly the sound of a greeting came from the right.

  “Lyfa-chan, you are safe!”

  Turning around, I saw a yellow-haired Sylph boy waving like crazy and running toward us.

  “Ah, Recon. Yes, somehow I survived.”

  Recon looked at Lyfa with eyes that sparkled.

  “Indeed, you really are amazing, to be surrounded by so many enemies but still come out of it in one piece…oh……”

  Recon finally noticed the figure in black standing next to Lyfa, and froze with his mouth hanging open for a few seconds.


  “Isn’t that a Spriggan? Why is he here!?”

  Recon said as he jumped back in a panic, his hand going to the hilt of the dagger hanging at his waist only to be stopped by Lyfa.

  “Calm down Recon. He is the reason I survived.”

  “Huh?”

  Lyfa pointed at Recon and said to Kirito:

  “This is Recon. He is my companion, but was killed by the Salamanders just before I met you.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. Nice to meet you, I am Kirito.”

  “Oh…ah, nice to meet you.”

  Recon grasped Kirito’s right hand and bowed.

  “Now is not the time for this!”

  Recon jumped back.

  “Is he ok Lyfa-chan? Maybe he is a spy!?”

  “I thought so at first too, but he is too much of a natural airhead to be a spy.”

  “Ah, that’s mean!”

  Lyfa and Kirito laughed, Recon looked on with suspicion, and eventually, cleared his throat before saying:

  “Lyfa-chan, Sigurd and the others are waiting in the «Narcissus Hall», they are ready to distribute the spoils from our hunting trip.”

  “Oh…I see…well…”

  When you are killed by an enemy, 30% of the non-equipment items in your possession are “stolen” by the enemy player. What items are taken is decided at random. However, when in a party there is something called Insurance Frame which will automatically transfer the items of a killed player to their party members.

  Today, since Lyfa was the last member of their party alive, the Insurance Frame transferred all of the items they had acquired into her possession. That is why the Salamanders had pursued her so persistently. So, it was only thanks to Kirito that all of their hard work had arrived at Sylvain.

  It had become a custom among Lyfa and her companions to meet at a familiar store, Narcissus Hall, to re-distribute any items that had been acquired during a hunting trip. However, Lyfa was a bit troubled and said to Recon:

  “I’m not participating today. There isn’t any item that match my skills anyway. I will give it to you to divide among the four other party members.”

  “Eh? Lyfa-chan isn’t coming?”

  “Ah, I promised Kirito I would treat him to something to drink in return for saving me.”

  “…”

  As Recon turned to look at Kirito, some of the suspicion from earlier returned – in a slightly different form.

  “Hey, don’t think about something strange.”

  Lyfa kicked Recon after saying that. She opened her item trade window and transferred all of the day’s loot to him.

  “E-mail me when you are ready for the next hunt. If I can I will go. Anyway, good job.”

  “Ah, Lyfa-chan…”

  Somehow embarrassed, Lyfa forcibly broke off the conversation, grabbed Kirito’s sleeve, and walked away.

  “That boy just now, is that Lyfa’s boyfriend?”

  “Or is he your lover?”

  “Phttt!?”

  Yui who stuck her head out of Kirito’s pocket, was the one who had raised her voice and asked this right after him. Lyfa immediately tangled her feet, her wings hurriedly spread to compensate for her loss of balance.

  “No… that’s not right, we are only party members.”

  “But your relationship seems very good!?”

  “I know him in the real world, he is my classmate at school, nothing more than that.”

  “Eh, that must be nice…playing VRMMO with classmates.”

  Hearing Kirito said that in an envious tone, she looked at him with slight frown.

  “Well, there are various evils too… it make you remember that thing known as homework.”

  “Ha ha ha, I see.”

  They walked down the street while having this conversation. From time to time they’d encounter other Sylph players, and upon seeing Kirito’s black hair they expressed surprised looks, but in seeing Lyfa next to him they kept to themselves and walked past. Lyfa wasn’t very active, but she had won the Sylvain fighting tournament several times, so she was well-known and popular.

  Finally, they came to a small and cozy inn and pub called «Lily of the Valley Pavillion». This was one of Lyfa’s favorite places to eat because they had very good desserts.

  When Lyfa opened the door and looked inside, she discovered the shop was empty save for a pair of players. Since it was just becoming evening in the real world, the restaurant would soon get busy as players would want a couple drinks after they returned from adventuring.

  They sat face to face at a secluded window table.

  “Since I invited you, pick anything you would like.”

  “If you’re sure it’s alright.”

  “Don’t eat too much now or you’ll regret it when it’s time to log out and have dinner.”

  Lyfa said while looking at the delicious desserts listed on the menu.

  This phenomenon is very strange. For some reason when you eat in ALO it produces a false impression of being full, and this feeling doesn’t immediately disappear when you return to the real world. To Lyfa, one of the greatest charms of a VRMMO is that she could indulge her sweet-tooth without having to worry about calories. She had to be careful not to eat too much though because her mother would probably be angry if she didn’t eat anything.

  Suffering from malnutrition or using this effect to diet is not unheard of. Even now once in a while on the news, there are players who are so dedicated to the game that they forget to eat and are weakened to death.

  Finally, Lyfa pointed at the menu and ordered a Bavarian fruit tart. Kirito ordered a piece of fruit pie and a bottle of spiced wine, and to her surprise Yui ordered a cheese biscuit. The NPC waitress immediately brought our order to the table and arranged it in front of us.

  “Well then, once again, thank you for helping me.”

  Clinking a glass of the mysterious green wine with Kirito, Lyfa drank the full glass of the cool liquid and felt it move down her parched throat. Kirito also drank his glass in one gulp, laughed a shy laugh and said:

  “Oh no, it was a matter of course…even so, they were very belligerent weren’t they? Is that kind of PK group common?”

  “Ah, originally the relationship between the Salamanders and the Sylphs was bad. Our territories are adjacent so we are usually competing for the resources in the same piece of neutral ground. Unsurprisingly, this antagonism eventually soured and the two races are now practically at war. However, that kind of organized PKing only started recently. I am certain that they are planning to attack the World Tree soon.”

  “That, I want you to tell me about the world tree.”

  “Ah yes, you said something about that before. But why do you want to know?”

  “I want to go to the top of the World Tree.”

  Surprised, Lyfa looked at Kirito and peered at his face. The serious look in his eyes told her that he wasn’t joking.

  “It certainly is something all players want, at least I think so. It is the main quest of ALO game.”

  “How so?”

  “You know there is a limit on the amount of time you can fly, right? No matter which race, the max flight time is about 10 minutes. However, the race that reaches the «City in the Air» at the top of the world tree first gets to meet the Fairy King «Oberon» and can be reborn as the higher species «ALF». This race of fairies has no time limit on flying, and will be free to fly freely through the sky, forever if they want.”

  “…I see…”

  Kirito took a bite of fruit pie and nodded.

  “It is indeed a fascinating story. Do you know a method of getting to the top of the world tree?”

  “Inside the world tree, the roots form a huge dome. There is an entrance to the City in the Air at the top, but to reach that entrance you have to get past an army of NPC guardians. Up to now, many racial groups have attempted to pass through this dome, but these parties were quickly wiped out. The Salamanders are currently the most powerful race, they have been saving a lot of money,
and they’ve been purchasing a lot of equipment and items. I think they will be the next to dare the world tree.”

  “Are the guardians really that strong?”

  “Unbelievably hard. Think about it, ALO came online over a year ago. What kind of quest is it that you can’t clear in a year?”

  “That’s definitely…”

  “In fact, just last fall, a well-known ALO information in a web site launched a petition, aimed at making Recto Progress adjust the balance of the game.”

  “Wow, and then?”

  “Of course, it was the usual answer. ‘This game has been operated with an appropriate balance’ bla bla bla. Lately, there are opinions that the world tree can’t be conquered using current methods.”

  “Perhaps you have overlooked a key point of this quest, or it is not possible to capture the world tree with just a single species?”

  Lyfa’s hand, which was bringing her tart to her mouth, suddenly stopped, as she shot another piercing glance at Kirito.

  “Oh, you have a good idea. If we are missing a quest, we can find out. But the second part is impossible.”

  “Impossible?”

  “There is something that contradicts you. ‘Only the first race to reach’. Do you think the races would work together to capture the world tree if this is the case?”

  “Then what you mean is… it is virtually impossible to climb the world tree?”

  “I think so. Moreover, there are many other quests, like mastering skills to improve item production, among many others. But, I won’t give up, or we will never know the joys of true flight. So, even if it takes many years, surely…… “

  “Well, that will be too late!”

  Kirito cried out in a hushed tone. Lyfa was surprised at the despair in that voice and looked at Kirito. She found his eyebrows furrowed and his teeth clenched so hard that he was actually shaking.

  “Papa…”

  Holding the cheese biscuit in both hands and chewing small bites, the pixie stopped eating and put the food down. Then she flew up to sit on Kirito’s shoulder, holding his cheek to comfort him. Finally, the tension ebbed from Kirito’s body.

  “…I’m sorry I surprised you.”