In fact, it was because we could sense that talk alone would not convince Alice that Eugeo and I planned to use Cardinal’s special daggers to temporarily paralyze her. We certainly didn’t plan on the current situation, but my objective remained the same: avoid fighting Alice, regroup with Eugeo, and create an opportunity for him to use his dagger on her.
Sensing that I could have destroyed that plan with one ill-timed slip, my mind raced for a solution. The expression on her face made it clear that I couldn’t wriggle out of this by claiming I had misspoken.
It seemed there were only two options. I could either fight Alice here, knock her out without killing her, and carry her up to the ninetieth floor—or I could suck it up and tell her everything.
My choice would depend on what I believed about her. If I believed her skill with the sword was below mine, I should choose battle. If I believed she could be reasoned with, I should choose dialogue.
A few seconds of deliberation later, I made my choice. With the full might of Alice’s flaming blue eyes upon me, I said, “You have a sister. I’ll explain…I don’t know if you’ll believe it, but I will tell you everything I believe to be the truth.”
However this statement struck her, Alice mulled it over for several seconds and then released me. I dropped flat on my butt onto the stone, where the knight looked down on me from her kneeling position. Even hearing me out in this situation seemed like it was outside the bounds of an Integrity Knight’s activities. She was locked in a battle between her logical duty to vanquish me with her blade and the desire to know what was unknown.
Eventually, desire won out. She slowly lowered herself to a proper sitting position and hissed, “Speak. But be warned…if I sense that your words are meant to mislead me, I will not hesitate to cut you in two.”
I sucked in a long breath and held it. “That’s fine…if your decision to attack me comes from your own true heart. And the reason I say that is because inside of you is an order that was implanted in you by someone else, an order you’re not aware of.”
“…Are you speaking of the Integrity Knight’s duty?”
“That’s right,” I said. Alice’s eyes narrowed with hostility. But I could detect an emotional hesitation lurking behind them. That would be Alice’s true feelings. I hoped that my words would break through to that part of her.
“Integrity Knights are summoned from the celestial realm by Administrator, the pontifex of the Axiom Church, in order to maintain order and justice…or so you understand. But only the people here within Central Cathedral actually think that. The thousands and thousands of people living across the realm don’t see it that way.”
“What…nonsense are you talking about…?”
“Go down there to the city and ask anyone in Centoria what the prize is for the winner of the annual Four-Empire Unification Tournament. They’ll tell you that the winner receives the honor of being made an Integrity Knight.”
“Made into…an Integrity Knight…? That’s nonsense. That can’t be right. I’ve interacted with many of the knights, and not a single one has ever said they were a human being before that.”
“It’s just the opposite. Not a single one of you started as anything other than human,” I said, back straight, staring her right in the eyes. I was desperately trying to break through to that human part of her, deep inside. “Alice, you don’t know who gave birth to you in the ‘celestial realm,’ or where you were raised. I’d bet your oldest active memory is Administrator telling you that you are a holy knight summoned from Heaven.”
“…”
I was correct, judging by her reaction. She leaned back just a little and bit her lip. “I…was told…that when an Integrity Knight is summoned to earth, Stacia removes her memories of Heaven…and that when the evil ones of the Dark Territory are vanquished, and I have completed my duty as a knight, I will be returned to the holy place…and remember my parents and siblings again…according to…the pontifex…”
Her normally crisp voice faltered and trailed away. Suddenly I knew. Somewhere deep in Alice’s heart, in a place she wasn’t aware of, she was desperate for her family memories. That must have been why she had reacted so powerfully to the mention of Selka’s name.
Choosing my words carefully, I explained, “Only a part of what Administrator told you is true. Yes, your memories were kept from you. But it wasn’t because of Stacia; it was the pontifex herself who did it. And it’s not your heavenly memories that are hidden but your human memories, of being born and raised here. It’s the same for all the other Integrity Knights, too, like Eldrie. He’s the son of a noble house in the Norlangarth Empire. He won the tournament this year and earned the honor of being made into a knight.”
“No…that’s a lie! My apprentice, Knight Thirty-One, could not be a descendent of the decadent nobles…”
“Listen to me: When we defeated Eldrie in combat, it wasn’t because we killed him. Did you see any major wounds on him? My partner remembered his real name, Eldrie Woolsburg, and that stimulated his memories of his mother. He wanted to remember her, but he couldn’t. That was because Administrator took that memory out of his soul and keeps it at the very top of the cathedral.”
“…His memory…of his mother…?” she murmured, lips trembling. Her eyes were wandering on empty air. “Eldrie’s…noble…human…mother…?”
“And that doesn’t just go for him. I’d bet at least half the knights are champions of the swordfighting tournament, and the majority of those would be noble children who were raised with the best possible education with the blade. The noble houses receive considerable wealth and status from turning their children over to the Axiom Church. That system has been in place for over a century now.”
“…I can’t believe it…I just cannot accept the story you are telling me,” the Integrity Knight said, shaking her head like a stubborn child at the notion that the Axiom Church and its knights weren’t utterly divine. “Not all the upper nobles in the four empires are like this, but many lead slothful and decadent lives. It is why we Integrity Knights are necessary to protect the human lands. And now you claim…that Eldrie and others in the knighthood…are actually from those degenerate noble houses…? It is not possible. I cannot believe it.”
“The reason those noble families are decadent is because the Axiom Church gave them too much prestige and power. But because of that privilege, their children grow up with excellent instruction in swordplay and sacred arts. In rural villages, children are given their callings at age ten and barely ever have time to practice fighting with swords, by comparison. And only the most gifted of those noble children can appear in the Four-Empire Unification Tournament, and the single champion of that event is invited to Central Cathedral. Have you ever met one of those champions within the cathedral?” I asked.
Alice looked away, uncertain, and shook her head. “No…but there are many monks, nuns, and their apprentices living on the lower floors…so perhaps those champions are down among them, enriching their lives through study…”
I nearly spoke up on the spot to deny that but thought better of it. Eugeo and I had come straight up the stairs to the fiftieth floor after we’d retrieved our swords from the cathedral’s third floor—with only the distraction of the child knights Fizel and Linel around the twentieth floor—and we hadn’t encountered any of the holy workers. But I could still speculate about their source.
My suspicion was that the majority of the monks and nuns undertaking the basic duties of the Axiom Church weren’t hired from the outside but were born and raised within the Church, just like Fizel and Linel. Administrator probably viewed them like practical-use production models she could replicate.
Alice wouldn’t know about that dark side of the organization, I figured. I didn’t need to bring up the idea and tax her mind more than necessary.
“No, you’ve met champions of the tournament. You’re just not aware of it. All the Integrity Knights’ memories are being manipulated and adjusted by Administrator on a constant
basis, not just during the ritual.”
“Nonsense!” she shouted, raising her head. “That is impossible! The holy pontifex would never toy with our memories the way you describe…”
“She is!” I shouted back. “You’re not just missing your memories of the tournament champions…You also don’t remember the criminals you’ve brought back to the tower!”
“C-criminals…?” she said, faltering. I stared right into her face, which was pale even in the moonlight.
“That’s right. Yesterday morning, you brought my partner and me here on your dragon from Swordcraft Academy. You remember that, don’t you?”
“…I would not forget it. You were the first ones I have ever been ordered to escort to prison.”
“Yet, Deusolbert Synthesis Seven didn’t remember you. When eight years ago…”
I paused, then steeled myself to say the name.
“…he was the one who took young Alice from Rulid Village in the far north, himself.”
She went whiter than the marble wall. Her bloodless lips quivered, and she croaked, “Rulid…That’s my true hometown…? And Deusolbert escorted me from there as a criminal…? In other words, I once violated a taboo…? Is that what you are saying?”
I waited for her to finish each and every question. “That’s right. Remember how I said half the Integrity Knights were tournament champions? The other half are people who were brought to the cathedral as criminals. They had the force of will to violate the Taboo Index, and that gives them exceptional power as knights. It’s two birds with one stone for Administrator: She turns a potential threat to the Church’s rule into a powerful personal agent. Now…let’s talk about you.”
This was it. The moment Alice would either accept my argument or deny it.
I fixed her with as firm a stare as I could possibly muster. She sat flat on the stone ledge, her shoulders hunched and forlorn, eyelids heavy, as though waiting for some final judgment.
“Your real name is Alice Zuberg. You were born and raised in Rulid, a small village at the foot of the End Mountains far to the north. You’re the same age as Eugeo, my partner, which would make you nineteen this year. You were brought here eight years ago, meaning you were eleven when the incident happened. You and Eugeo went spelunking in the cave through the End Mountains…and at the other end of the cave, you just barely crossed the boundary between the human realm and the Dark Territory. So the taboo you broke was ‘infiltrating the Dark Territory.’ You didn’t steal anything or hurt anyone…In fact, you were trying to save the dying dark knight…”
Now it was my turn to clam up. Did I really hear that many details about Alice’s story from Eugeo…?
Surely I did. I awoke in the Underworld two years ago—I couldn’t possibly know what happened six years before that. But for some reason, there was an image in my brain of a knight in black falling from the sky in a shower of blood and Alice rushing toward him, as vivid and specific as if I’d seen it myself. I even heard the scraping sound of her hand brushing the black soil of the Dark Territory.
Somehow, the imagery of Eugeo’s story must have gotten mixed up with my memories from reality, I told myself. I looked up and saw that Alice was so shaken by all this that she wasn’t bothered by the way I trailed off. Her cheeks were sallow, twitching.
“Alice Zuberg,” she whispered. “That’s…my…name? Rulid…End Mountains…I can’t remember any of it…”
“Don’t force yourself to remember, or you’ll end up like Eldrie,” I warned, cutting her off. If Alice’s Piety Module turned unstable and stopped working like his, there might be trouble—especially if the other knights sensed it happening and came to get her. But Alice merely looked at me with slightly more control than a moment before.
“Why would you say that now?” she demanded, her voice trembling. “I…I want to know everything. I don’t believe what you’ve said yet…but I will make my decision on that once I’ve heard the whole story.”
“All right. But to be honest, I don’t know that much about your past. Your dad is the elder of Rulid, Gasfut Zuberg. I don’t know your mother’s name, unfortunately, but like I said earlier, you have a little sister named Selka, who is probably still a sister-in-training at the church in Rulid. When I stayed there two years ago, I talked with her a lot. She was a good kid, and she cared about her sister; she’d been worried about you ever since you were taken away. When you lived in Rulid, you were also an apprentice and were considered to have a genius talent for sacred arts. She was trying her hardest to inherit that position and take over for you in your absence.”
That was all I knew. Alice said nothing for a while. Her earlier unrest was gone now, and that porcelain-white face was utterly still. She seemed to be trying to dredge up anything she could remember about those proper names, but it wasn’t producing any results.
It didn’t work, I realized. I’d been hoping that even without that missing memory fragment, if I calmly gave her bits of relevant information, she’d eventually recall some of those memories. Evidently, Administrator’s memory block was stronger than I realized.
The only one who could restore Alice was Cardinal, who had admin privileges. And that would still require the missing memory fragment that Administrator was keeping locked up.
Just then, Alice’s mouth opened.
“Selka.”
She did it again.
“Selka…”
Her darkened eyes pointed to the stars overhead.
“…I can’t remember. No face, no voice. But…it’s not the first time I’ve said that name. My mouth…my throat…my heart remembers.”
“…Alice,” I said, but she didn’t seem to even be aware I was there anymore.
“I called it all the time,” she whispered. “Every day, every night…Selka…Selka…Sel…”
Clear drops clung to her long lashes, sparkling with the light of the stars before they fell. I felt like I was seeing something unbelievable. The tears kept coming and coming, dripping with tiny patters onto the marble between us.
“It’s true…I have a family…a father and mother…and a sister I share blood with…somewhere out there under these stars…,” she choked, until her voice turned to sobs.
Before I knew what I was doing, I had reached out to her, but she batted me away with the back of her hand.
“Don’t look at me!” she sobbed, smacking me in the chest with her right hand while she rubbed at her eyes with the left. The tears never stopped, however, and eventually she buried her face in her knees, shoulders shaking.
“Nng…hnk…aaah…”
As the Integrity Knight continued to quietly sob, I came to the realization that liquid was pooling in my eyes as well.
I’ll do it. I’ll stop this Administrator and take Alice back home, I swore, my mission renewed, as I understood what was making me emotional, too.
Even if the plan went successfully, it wouldn’t be this sobbing Integrity Knight whom I reunited with Selka in Rulid. Alice would recover her lost memories, remember how she grew up with Eugeo and Selka, and probably forget about her years of service as a knight.
That would essentially be the destruction of Alice the Integrity Knight.
She’d be returning to the way she ought to be, I reminded myself. But I couldn’t help but feel pity for the weeping knight curled up in a miserable ball.
For all the years she had spent at Central Cathedral, Alice Synthesis Thirty had been pained by the deep, subconscious desire for the company of the family she could never see again. I couldn’t help but sympathize.
Eventually, much later, her racking sobs subsided in volume, to be replaced by silent weeping. My own tears had already dried a few minutes before that, so I decided to focus on what should happen next.
If there was an ideal outcome out of anything I could reasonably envision, it would be as follows: Once the moon rose, we’d resume climbing and reenter the tower at the ninety-fifth floor. Somehow, I would avoid resuming battle with Alice there and
meet up with Eugeo again. Whether or not we used Cardinal’s special dagger in his possession would depend on the circumstances.
After that, the biggest obstacle remaining would be to defeat Bercouli Synthesis One or persuade him not to fight us. It would be great if Eugeo had already beaten him, but I couldn’t count on that. Then we’d reach the top floor of the cathedral, where our ultimate foe, Administrator, slept.
We’d have to neutralize the pontifex before she awoke, find Alice’s memory fragment, wherever it was hidden in the chamber, then use it to restore her memories and personality.
Lastly, I’d use the system console to make contact with the Rath staff, preserve the state of the Underworld, and get them to prevent the imminent stress test—a massive invasion from the Dark Territory…
Each one of these missions was astonishingly difficult; all of them together was hard to fathom. I had to assume that each individual goal had a probability of 50 percent, if not 30 or lower.
But I wasn’t allowed to stop in my tracks now. The two years I’d spent in the Underworld—in fact, the very long time ever since I’d first been locked in that game of death—had all been leading up to this encounter with a new kind of humanity so I could save them.
As Akihiko Kayaba had stared at the collapsing Aincrad against the red of the sunset, he’d claimed he wanted to create a truly alternate world. I wasn’t carrying on his mission, not in the least, but I had to admit that a true alternate world was exactly what I was seeing here.
Kayaba’s digital copy left The Seed with me, and it ultimately brought about an infinite array of VR worlds across the Internet. And whether by fate or by coincidence, the lightcube format that stored the souls of the Underworldians was compatible with The Seed Nexus. If there was some greater meaning to the SAO Incident beyond whatever Kayaba hoped to achieve, I got the feeling I would find it here in the Underworld.
I couldn’t turn back now. Two long years after I woke up in the forest south of Rulid, I was finally bearing down on the last floor of Central Cathedral, the goal of my long journey. But if there was any tiny but unavoidable problem along the way, it was that out of those many laudable goals, there was just one I wasn’t entirely certain I wanted to achieve…
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