“Ouch, it hurts.”
While rubbing his face that got slapped by Lyfa, Kirito slowly walked.
“That was papa’s fault!”
“That’s true. You were really rude.”
Hearing Lyfa and Yui on her shoulder say so, Kirito looked like a reprimanded child and argued.
“I was trying to ease the battle tension and pent up energy, with wit and joke..”
“Next time you do that, I’ll cut you.”
Lyfa closed her eyes and turned away, speeding up the pace.
In front is a huge stone gate that reached the ceiling. This is the city gate of mining town Ruger.
For re-supply and sorting out information, it’s best to stay the night in town. The unexpected large-scale fighting took a lot of time, so real time is almost around midnight.
This is now the time that ALfheim starts to get busy, but Lyfa is still a student, so the latest she can stay in game is 1am. She told Kirito about this, he considered for a moment then nodded in understanding.
Passing through the gate side by side, instead of BGM, the NPC orchestra played wonderfully happy drums to greet the arrival of the two.
The scale of the street is not large, but at the the central intersection, shops for weapon and armor, all kinds of material, wine, food and many other types, workshops all crowded together. The number of players was more than imagined. Under normal circumstances rarely met music fairies (Pucas), blacksmiths goblins (Leprechaun) and other ethnic groups were here, talking happily side-by-side.
“Oh… so this is Ruger.”
Lyfa looked at the first time seen bustling underground city, and could not help but issue a happy voice. She rushed to the closest shop, checking out its display of swords. Even in these simple shops, buying things is a very exciting thing for her.
“By the way…”
While Lyfa started playing with a silver long sword, Kirito behind her with a laid-back tone said that.
“What?”
“Before the Salamanders attack, didn’t you get a message? What was it about?”
“…Ah.”
Lyfa greatly opened her mouth, and turned around.
“I forgot.”
She hurriedly open the window, and checked the receive directory. Reading Recon’s message again, it still didn’t make any sense. It might but cut off due to connection problem, but there didn’t seem to be a continuing message.
In this case, I’ll just send him a message, but Recon’s name in her friend list was gray. That means he was offline.
“What? He went to sleep?”
“Try to contact him on the other side?”
Lyfa thought about Kirito’s suggestion.
To be honest, Lyfa did not like bringing ALfheim world events into the real world. She never went to the ALO community site, and she rarely talked to Recon - that is, Shinichi Nagata about game-related things in reality.
But that that enigmatic message had a pull on her is true.
“Then, I am going to log off and check it out, Kirito-kun, wait for me. Please look after my body. …Yui-chan.”
Lyfa then looked at Yui on her shoulder and added.
“Yes?”
“You have to watch your papa; do not let him take advantage of my body.”
“Understood!”
“Hey!”
Kirito shook his head in jest and smiled, Lyfa sat on a nearby bench, and waved her right hand.
She pressed the log out button, and took her fourth world change of the day. With a feeling of vertigo, her senses returned to the the real world far away.
“Fuu…”
She hadn’t been logged in for such a long time in a while, so it left her feeling a little fatigued. She took a deep breath.
While wearing the Amuspere, she rolled over on the bed and looked at the alarm clock. Soon Midori will be home. It’s better to meet with her at least…
While thinking that, she reached for her cell phone on the headboard. The EL panel on the external of the phone displayed calls received while she was logged in.
“What is this?”
Suguha’s eyes widened. Twelve missed calls, all from Nagata Shinichi. If a family member, police, hospital or any type of emergency called, the linkage program through Amuspere would automatically log out, but Nagata’s number was not in that list, so it was ignored. Why was he calling this late?
She opened the phone, preparing to return the call, but the thirteenth incoming call lit up her phone with a sapphire blue sheen. Suguha pressed the call key, and put the phone to her ear.
“Hello, Nagata-kun? What is it?”
“Ah! You’ve finally come out! It’s too late, Suguha-chan!!”
“What do you mean too late? I was busy inside.”
“Big trouble! Sigurd that guy he sold us out. Not just us, but the lord, Sakuya-san, as well. He sold us all out!”
“Sold us out? What do you mean? Explain from the beginning.”
“Hmm, there is no time… Well, when we were attacked yesterday in the Ancient Forest by the Salamanders, Suguha-chan didn’t you feel it was suspicious?”
Nagata returned to his habitual way of calling Suguha. When talking face-to-face, if he called her the too familiar name of Suguha-chan, she would always attack him physically, since she couldn’t do that on the phone, she had to accept it grudgingly.
Saying that, Suguha was surprised that only happened the day before. It seemed like a long time ago since she met Kirito.
“Eh? Suspicious? What happened?”
To tell the truth, her impression of Kirito was too strong, she couldn’t remember the aerial combat before.
“In the beginning, when we were attacked by eight Salamanders, Sigurd wanted to be the bait and led three of them away right?”
“Ah, that reminds me. He didn’t manage to escape either right?”
“That’s right. But, thinking carefully about it now, that is not Sigurd’s style at all. Whenever the party splits, he always remains as leader, and makes someone else be the bait, usually .”
“Ah. That is true…”
Sigurd was a capable combat commander, but he was self-righteous, and not satisfied unless he was at the top. Indeed, for him to become bait while other members escaped, this act of self-sacrifice was unlike his style.
“But, that is, what does it mean?”
“Like I said.”
Nagata said like he ate something unpleasant.
“That guy, worked with the Salamanders. Probably since a long time ago.”
“What!?”
This shocked her to the core, and she clenched her cell phone while shouting.
In ALO, power games between ethnic groups were wide spread, using throw-away accounts for spying was a common occurrence. She was afraid in her home, Sylvian, many other races, especially Salamanders were camouflaged within as Sylphs.
Basically, those players with low skills, little contributions, and sparse activity were likely to be spies. These people were not allowed near the power hub department. Lyfa was no exception, it hadn’t been too long since she was allowed to enter the Lord’s mansion behind the Tower of Wind.
But Sigurd had since the beginning of ALO actively participated in politics. In the recent election for the Lordship he had been a candidate, which proved his long play. Although the current Lord’s high popularity meant he always came up second, he didn’t seem to be upset and became assistant. So he had a big impact on the center of power.
Talk of him being a Salamander spy, was hard to understand or believe.
“Hey you, that, do you have proof?”
Suguha asked in surprise.
“I thought something was strange, so since this morning I used «Hollow» to follow Sigurd.”
“You really have a lot of time.”
«Hollow Body» was Recon’s most adept transparency spell. It required high hiding magic and covert action to be mastered to use.
Recon used the name of the English letters �
�Recon» to refer to the U.S. military reconnaissance team - the correct pronunciation should be similar to RIIKON, it seemed. Due to his role as the lead tracker in hunting, he was the best of the best at tracking. Once, Recon had used his spell to enter the room Lyfa was resting in, he had claimed that it had been to secretly place her birthday present there, but in the end she had made him confess and Lyfa had mercilessly punished him almost to death.
Nagata ignored Suguha’s incredulous words and continued.
“After hearing the bad things he said to you in the tower of wind, I followed him looking for a chance to assassinate him with poison. Then…”
“Wow, what a dangerous guy.”
“…In front of an ally, he put on an invisibility cloak and disappeared. So he’s finally up to something I thought. Well, just using an item can’t hide him from my eyes.”
“Enough boasting, hurry up and talk about what happened next.”
“After going into the sewers, and walking about five minutes, there were two people waiting for him. They were also dressed in invisibility cloaks, and when they took them off I was surprised they were Salamanders!”
“Eh? But even wearing those cloaks can’t hide them from the guardians. They would be attacked when they entered the street… It can’t be…”
“That, it can. They were wearing «Pass Medallion».”
Pass Medallions were for traders and people of other races who come into our territory, and were given those as a pass after a strict examination. Only the ruling ministry could issue those, they couldn’t be transferred to another person. Of course Sigurd had the rights to issue them.
“I thought this was a big scoop so I listened. He told the Salamander to put a Tracer on you. But that’s not all. Today, Lord Sakuya and the Cait Sith are going to sign alliance agreements, so she left in maximum secrecy for a neutral city.”
“Ah I see, no wonder there was no flag hanging at the lord’s mansion.”
Nagata’s loud cries covered Suguha’s mutter.
“That guy, Sigurd, he wanted the Salamanders’ big army to attack the alliance ceremony!”
“Wha…”
For an instant, Suguha’s breathing stopped. She had already decided she would not be returning when she left, but Sylph territory was still her home and Sakuya her beloved lord. The anxious thoughts bubbling up made her shout into the phone microphone.
“This, this thing you should have said it earlier!! That’s big trouble!!”
“That’s why I said it’s big trouble at the start…”
Responding to Nagata’s sad argument, Suguha immediately interrupted him.
“That, does Sakuya know? Is there still time!?”
“I feel bad, when I was leaving the sewer, I kicked a stone by mistake…”
“You fool! Making a mistake at that time!”
“…It seems, recently I am starting to enjoy Suguha-chan’s anger…”
“You big pervert!! So!? Did you contact her!?”
“The Salamanders’ search magic saw through my disguise. I was thinking if they killed me I would be resurrected at the tower, then I could go to the lord’s mansion. But they hit me with a poisoned arrow instead, it was really cruel.”
Thinking back her previous statement, Suguha suppressed her rebuttal.
“So, what happened to Recon?”
“The Salamanders caught me while I was paralyzed… So I had no choice but to log off, Suguha-chan never answered my calls, and I don’t have any other contacts in the real world. Hmm, the conference with the Cait Sith Lord is at one o’clock. Oh no, there’s only forty minutes left! What should we do, Suguha-chan!? “
Suguha took a deep breath, and quickly asked:
“Do you know where the negotiations will take place?”
“I don’t know the exact location… But its inside the mountain pass, the «Butterfly Valley» area.”
“Understood. …I will go and try to warn them. There’s no time to waste, I am hanging up.”
“Ah, Suguha-chan!”
As I was preparing to press the end key, Nagata’s minced voice came.
“What is it?”
“Ah, it’s about that guy Kirito, what is your relationship with him?”
‘Click.’
Suguha immediately ended the call, threw her phone to the headboard, lay her head on the pillow and closed her eyes. She mouthed the only Spell Word that works in the real world, then her consciousness gradually shifted to the other, conspiracy filled, world.
Lyfa opened her eyes and stood up.
“Woah, you surprised me!!”
The surprised Spriggan almost dropped the mysterious food he had bought - something on a skewer that resembled small reptiles - but he managed to hold onto it.
“You are back, Lyfa.”
“Welcome back…”
Facing Kirito and Yui who welcomed her back, she didn’t have time to say ‘I’m back.’
“Kirito-kun… I’m sorry.”
“Eh, eh eh?”
“I really need to go to a certain place. I have no time to explain, but I probably won’t be able to come back here.”
“…”
Kirito gazed at Lyfa for a moment and then nodded.
“Is that so. Alright, let’s talk while we move.”
“Eh?”
“It doesn’t matter where to; we have to use our feet to get out of here anyway right?”
“I see. Then let’s run and talk.”
The two began running in the direction of the gate leading to Aarun, passing the streets of Ruger.
They passed through the crowd, through the stone door, there was another lake with a bridge through it. While running at full speed, Lyfa explained the situation to Kirito. Fortunately, no matter how fast you run in this world, you won’t run out of breath to speak.
“- I see.”
After Lyfa finished her story, Kirito turned back toward the front as he considered.
“Can I ask some questions?”
“Go ahead.”
“Why would the Salamanders attack the Sylph and Cait Sith Lords? What good does it do?”
“Well, first of all, it can prevent an alliance. As someone from Sylph leaked intelligence to the Salamanders, the Cait Sith there will definitely not stay silent if it is used against them. In the worst case, it may result in a war between the Cait Sith and Sylph races. The Salamanders are currently the strongest force, but if the two races entered an alliance it would probably reverse the balance of power. I think the Salamanders want to prevent that at any cost.”
As they crossed the bridge into the cave, Lyfa brought up a map and kept running as she checked the route.
“Also, if they kill the Lord, they will get some amazing bonuses. They will unconditionally receive 30% of the lord’s funds stored in the mansion, and for ten days, the territory that the lord rules over would become occupied, then they are free to set taxes and take that money. That is a tremendous amount of money. The reason why Salamander became the largest force in the game was because in the past, they had set a trap for Sylph’s first Lord and killed him. Normally lords don’t venture into neutral territory. In the history of ALO, only one lord has ever been killed.”
“Is that so…”
“That’s why… Kirito-kun…”
Still running Lyfa glanced at Kirito’s profile and continued:
“This is a problem for the Sylph race, so you have no reason to get involved. After you get out of this cave it is a straight forward route towards the city of Aarun. If you go to the conference site, it is not likely you will survive. You will respawn at Sylvian and all of the time it took to get here will have been wasted. Well, to put it bluntly…”
Lyfa had no time to appreciate the complexity of her inner emotions, and before she could stop herself, she said:
“If your objective is to go to the top of the world tree, it may be best to cooperate with the Salamanders. If the Salamander’s strategy is successful, then they will get
a lot of money. It is almost guaranteed that they will use it to challenge the world tree. Spriggans can be hired as mercenaries. …I won’t complain even if you kill me here.”
If that happens, I will not resist, Lyfa thought. It was not something she would think of generally, but this time she was sure she had no chance of winning. She also found the prospect of fighting the boy she had become acquainted with over the past day to be unpleasant.
If that really does happen, then I may never play ALO again. As all of this ran through her mind, Lyfa looked at Kirito’s face again, but his expression did not change; instead, he continued running forward and said:
“This is a game after all, so anything can happen. If you want to kill, then you can kill; if there is something you want, then you can steal it.”
Kirito paused for a moment before speaking:
“…People who’ve said that, I have met too many of them. On one level, that is true, and I used to think that way too. But it isn’t right. Especially in a virtual world, there are some things that you must protect, no matter how stupid you look. I was taught that by a person very important to me…”
Here, Kirito’s voice grew very soft, taking on a warm feeling.
“VRMMOs are called games, but this is a contradiction; splitting the player and the role is not a good idea. If you take on traits in this world, your personality in the real world will reflect these changes. Players and their character are one. I like Lyfa, and I want to be your friend. No matter what the reason, I will not kill you to further my own self-interests, absolutely not! “
“Kirito-kun…” Lyfa suddenly felt unable to breathe so she stopped running. Noticing her falter, Kirito also paused.
Lyfa wrung her hands in thought, but words could not express the feelings racing through her; she continued staring at the dark eyed boy in front of her.
I see… so this is it… Lyfa muttered in the depths of her heart. That was the reason why Lyfa had not become close to anyone in this world. She could not be certain if what she saw was their true character, or if it was just a personality assumed with the avatar. She could not know if what they said were their true intentions and ideas. She didn’t know how to approach them, and to escape their offered hands’ weight, she wanted to fly away.
Sword Art Online - Volume 3 - Fairy Dance Page 17