Sword Art Online - Volume 9 - Alicization Beginning

by Reki Kawahara

  The reason was simple. That giant tree was a perfect training platform. Every time I demonstrated «Horizontal», Eugeo would practice it over and over again, and the cut on the trunk continued to deepen. Once the cut occupied about 80% of the diameter, it happened.

  “—SEIAA!!”

  The giant tree took the horizontal slash from Eugeo’s refined motion and let out an ominous creaking sound that had never happened before.

  Both of us stared at each other in a dumbstruck manner, and then at the trunk of the Gigas Cedar that extended all the way into sky, and we froze in shock as we saw the giant tree fall slowly towards us.

  However, at this moment, it didn’t feel like a large tree was falling towards us, but that the land we were standing on was falling forward. The tree with diameter of more than 4m succumbed to gravity as it lowered its head towards us, and the scene was so surreal.

  Just 80cm—if I described the distance using the unit in this world, it would be «80 cen»—the surrounding roots couldn’t endure the tree’s own heavy weight and scattered into coal like bits. The giant tree’s final cry was a lot more intense than even 10 bolts of thunder from heaven as it was said that the sound of destruction even went by the central plaza of the village, all the way to the northernmost guard sentry post.

  Eugeo and I cried out at the same time as we split up left and right respectively. The pitch black Gigas Cedar sliced apart the sky that was gradually becoming orange and slowly, slowly fell down. Its large body finally collapsed and laid down on the ground. We took the impact that was ridiculously ever so large and were sent flying into the air. Once we fell back and landed on our butts, our lives dropped by about 50 points.

  “That really surprised me…there are so many people in this village.”

  I received a large mug filled with apple cider from Eugeo as I muttered.

  Right now, there were a few bundles of bonfires at the central plaza of Rulid village, lighting up the faces of the villagers gathered there. The band beside the fountain was playing with instruments that looked like bagpipes and very long flutes. Also, there were performers in animal skin dancing with the music in a waltz. The villagers were all clapping and tapping their feet in rhythm as they danced under the night.

  I sat beside a table slightly further away, and my feet tapped along with the rhythm. Suddenly, I really felt an urge to jump and dance with the villagers in the circle, which was really unbelievable.

  “I think this is the first time I see so many villagers gathered together. There’s even more people than the prayer festival at the Saint’s Day at the end of the year, definitely.”

  Eugeo said as he smiled, and I reached out the mug in my right hand. I had no idea how many times we toasted. The foaming beer that was about the same as the apple cider, but when I drank up, my face would still feel hot.

  Once they knew that the Gigas Cider was cut down, the village chief had organized a village council meeting with the more well known villagers. During that time, it seemed that they had a heated debate over what to do with the «Giant tree Cutter» Eugeo—and me.

  What was scary was that some people even thought that it was a lot earlier than expected. Basically, it was earlier by about 900 years, and finishing the mission was a mistake, and we had to be punished. However, the village chief Gasupht finalized things and decided that no matter what, the entire village had to organize a party to celebrate and deal with Eugeo according to the law.

  As for what the law was about, I had no idea as well, and I asked him. He merely smiled and told me that I would know immediately.

  However, after looking at his expression, I knew that at least he wouldn’t be told off. I finished up the beer inside my mug, grabbed a stick of roasted meat with meat sauce dripping from the plate beside me, and took a huge bite.

  Thinking about it carefully, after I came to this world, everything I ate tasted bland, like the round buns and the dishes in the church that were mostly vegetables, so this would be the first time I was eating something with the word meat in it. Besides, the tender beef that was coated with thick sauce—there was also the fragrance of something that smelled like meat, which made it really hard to believe that this was the virtual world. Just this smell alone was worth the tough battle against the Gigas Cedar.

  However, things would definitely not end just like that. I felt that it should be that we were finally staring at the starting line. I moved my line of sight and looked at Eugeo with the Sword of Blue Rose hanging proudly there.

  During past 5 days, he had sufficient practice with the initial basic one handed sword skill—the one-strike horizontal slash «Horizontal» on the Gigas Cedar.

  Just like the randomly named Aincrad-style indicated, this was a sword skill that existed in the old VRMMO game «Sword Art Online».

  I could still understand somewhat why this action could be replicated. When I went to the VR game that was based around gunfights, the world of «Gun Gale Online», I used a few sword skills to break through tough battles, but in the end, that was just letting the avatar trace the actions, and there was no light effect or system assist that caused the sword to accelerate with the skill. It’s to be expected that these weren’t written into the game system.

  However—in this other world Underworld, the sword skills all took effect completely. If I did the play motion and imagined the actions of the skill, the sword would glow and accelerate. I was worried that I may be the only one who could do it on the first day of training, but on the second day, Eugeo managed to launch a «Horizontal» successfully for the first time, proving that any of the residents could use sword skills as long as the conditions were set.

  The question now would be why such a phenomenon happened. There shouldn’t be any relationship between the RATH-developed STL’s technical group and the now –defunct Argus that developed SAO. If there was, that would be…that man who introduced me the strange group called RATH and was once part of the country’s task force in the SAO incident…

  “Don’t tell me…”

  I muttered as I started eating the second skewered meat. If the thought I had was true, that guy couldn’t just be someone doing the introductions, but someone infinitely related to the core of this incident—but I had no way to check this out. If I wanted to get more information, I had to first leave Rulid village and head to the capital way down south.

  The largest obstacle to this plan, the Gigas Cedar was chopped down. Then, there was only one thing left to do.

  After finishing the meat and vegetables on the metal skewer, I turned to the table and looked at my partner, who was staring at the ring of villagers, before saying,

  “I say, Eugeo…”

  “Un…what is it?”

  “From now on, you…”

  But before I could continue, a shrill voice came from above our heads.

  “Ah, there you are! What are you guys doing, the main characters for this celebration?”

  I spent quite some time to realize that this girl, who was standing in front of us with her arms folded and her back straightened, was Selka. She had already undone the 3 braids on her head and had a headband on. She wasn’t wearing a black nun habit, but a red vest and a grass-colored skirt.

  “Ah, no…I’m not good at dancing…”

  Eugeo continued to eat as he tried to look for excuses, and I shook my right hand.

  “Yeah, me too. I lost my memory…”

  “It’s just dancing! You’ll learn once you dance around!”

  She grabbed Eugeo and my hands at the same time and dragged us up from the chair. Selka dragged us to the center of the plaza despite our protests and pushed us out. The crowd immediately cheered, and we were swallowed by the dancing ring.

  Luckily, their dance was rather simple, about the same kind taught during the sports festival. After changing through 3 dance partners, I finally managed to imitate them and started dancing. Slowly, with the simple melody, my movements became a lot more joyous, and my feet got lighter. />
  The girls who didn’t look like either Easterners or Westerners had a healthy blush on their faces as they happily laughed. I held their hands as I danced with them, and had a feeling, wondering whether I really was a wanderer without memories. It’s really peculiar.

  — Speaking of which, I once danced in the virtual world as well. My dance partner was my sister Suguha’s other identity in Alfheim, the Slyph swordswoman Lyfa. Her smile overlapped with the face of the girl in front of me now, causing my nose to hurt a little.

  As I was engrossed in the unexpected homesick feeling, the music got more intense and faster before stopping suddenly. I looked over at the band, and found that a burly man with a nice beard stepped on the podium with all sorts of instruments around it. He was the village chief of Rulid village, Selka’s father, Gasupht.

  The village chief clapped twice and called out in a baritone.

  “Everyone, the celebration has arrived at its climax, but listen to what I have to say for a while.”

  The villagers raised their mugs of ale and cider that were meant to cool off their heated bodies after dancing and cheered to toast back at the village chief. Everyone then went quiet, and the village chief looked around before saying again,

  “—The great wish of our forefathers in Rulid village is finally fulfilled! The demonic tree that took Terraria and Solus from the lush southern land has been cut down! We will have a new place to grow wheat, beans and rear livestock!”

  Gasupht’s brilliant voice was again covered. The village chief raised his hands to wait for everyone to quieten down before he continued,

  “The young man who accomplished this feat—Orick’s son, Eugeo, come here!”

  The village chief waved to a corner of the plaza, and over there, Eugeo looked tense as he stood up. The slight short and shout man beside him should be his father, Orick-san. He did not resemble Eugeo at all other than the hair color, and there was no pride on his face so he looked somewhat flustered.

  Eugeo wasn’t prompted by his father, but by the surrounding villagers. He walked up to the podium and stood beside the village chief, and as he faced the plaza, everyone let out the 3rd and loudest cheer. I clapped loudly with an enthusiasm not losing to them as well.

  “As according to the rules—”

  The village chief’s voice rang again, and the villagers all kept quiet and pricked their ears.

  “Eugeo, who had completed his task fully, shall have the right to choose his next Sacred Task. He can continue to cut wood in the forest, follow his father to farm, herd the cattle, brew wine or be a merchant, he can choose whatever path he wants!”

  —What!?

  I felt my urge to dance quickly cooling off.

  It was not the time to hold girls’ hands and flutter around. I should have given Eugeo the final push earlier on. It would be wasted if he said something like I want to grow wheat or something.

  I held my breath as I watched Eugeo on the podium. He lowered his head in a bothered manner, grabbing his hair with his right hand, and gripping and loosening his left. I might as well rush to the podium, grab his shoulder and yell that we’re going to the capital— as I thought about that, a small voice rang beside me.

  “Eugeo…intends to leave the village, I guess…”

  It was Selka, who had stood beside me without me knowing. Her mouth curled into a smile showing a mix of loneliness and delight.

  “Is, is that so?”

  “Un, that’s right. What else is there to hesitate about?”

  Eugeo seemed to have heard her voice as he used his left hand to grab tightly onto the Sword of Blue Rose at his waist. He lifted his head to look first at the village chief, and then around at the villagers before saying in a loud and clear voice.

  “I want—to become a swordsman. I want to join the guards of Zakkaria town and refine my skills. One day, I’ll head to the capital.”

  After a moment of silence, there was a commotion amongst the villagers, but this time it didn’t look friendly. The adults were all frowning, gathered together and were seemingly talking about something. His father and the two young men beside him—most likely Eugeo’s elder brothers—didn’t look too happy either.

  This time, village chief Gasupht was the one who controlled the crowd, raising a hand to make the villagers quieten down and giving the same stern looking as he spoke.

  “Eugeo, are you—”

  On saying till this point, he stroked his beard, and continued.

  “…No, I won’t ask you for the reason. The Church has decreed that you have the right to choose your next Sacred Task. Alright, as an elder of Zakkaria, I recognize Orick’s son Eugeo’s new Sacred Task to be a swordsman. If you’re willing, you can leave the village to practice your sword skills.”

  Hoo…hh. I sighed for a long while.

  In that case, I can finally see the core of this world with my own eyes. If Eugeo became a farmer, I would have definitely intended to head to the capital alone, but since I had no knowledge or money for travelling, I might end up having to spend countless months or even years if I were to walk aimlessly. On thinking about how these few days of hard work had finally paid off, my shoulders immediately relaxed a lot.

  The villagers seemed to have accepted the chief’s decision as, though they hesitated somewhat at first, they started clapping. But before their claps got louder, a sharp roar broke the night sky.

  “WAIT A SEC!”

  A large young man split the wall of people and leapt to the front of the podium.

  I had a good impression on the wilted-leaf colored short hair and stern look with the simple-looking longsword hanging on the waist. This person was the guard of this village stationed at the sentry in the south.

  The young man seemed to be facing off against Eugeo on the podium as he roared crudely,

  “IT SHOULD BE MY RIGHT TO AIM FOR THE GOAL OF BEING A GUARD OF ZAKKARIA! LOGICALLY, EUGEO CAN ONLY LEAVE THE VILLAGE AFTER ME, RIGHT!?’

  “YEAH, THAT’S RIGHT!”

  The one who walked out as he yelled was a middle-aged man who had similar hair color and facial build, but had a bulging tummy.

  “…Who’s that?”

  I brought my face over to Selka to ask. Selka pondered for a while and answered.”

  “It’s the ex guard-captain Doyke-san and his son, the current guard captain. They’re the most skilled family in the village, but also the most annoying family here.”

  “I see…”

  Just when I was about to consider what to do next, chief Gasupht listened to Jink and his father’s opinion before raising his hand as he looked like he was trying to counsel them.

  “But Jink, you’ve only been through 6 years of being a guard. According to the rules, you can only join the swords tournament of Zakkaria in another 4 years.”

  “THEN EUGEO SHOULD WAIT FOR ANOTHER 4 YEARS! HOW CAN YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE AND LET EUGEO GO FOR IT WHEN HE’S NOT AS GOOD AS ME!!”

  “Fm, then how are you going to prove this? How are you going to prove that you’re stronger than Eugeo?”

  “What…”

  Jink and his father were immediately flushed in red. This time, it was his father who raged and closed in on Gasupht.

  “EVEN IF YOU’RE THE VILLAGE CHIEF OF RULID VILLAGE, I CAN’T PRETEND THAT I DIDN’T HEAR THOSE OUTRAGEOUS WORDS! SINCE YOU SAY THAT MY SON’S SWORD SKILLS ARE INFERIOR TO A NOVICE, LET’S HAVE A DUEL NOW!”

  On hearing that, the villagers immediately called out irresponsibly. They were all hoping wholeheartedly to watch this unexpected celebration’s side event as they raised their mugs and stamped, shouting “DUEL, DUEL!”

  Just when I spaced out, Jink challenged Eugeo, and Eugeo had to accept it. In the end, both of them had to face off against each other on the space the crowd in front of the podium cleared out. Are you kidding me, I thought and whispered to Selka.

  “I’ll leave for a while.”

  “Wha, what are you trying to do?”

  I didn’t ans
wer as I split the crowd and arrived in front of the fountain before moving over to Eugeo. In stark contrast to the enemy who was charging over like a ferocious horse, Eugeo’s expression showed that he didn’t know how to deal with this, and he heaved a sigh of relief as he saw me before whispering,

  “Wh-what should I do, Kirito? Things seemed to have gotten quite big.”

  “It’s pointless to apologize at this point. Forget about that. Are you really going to slash at each other in this duel?”

  “No way? We’re using swords, but it’s only until the attack is inches from each other.”

  “Fuun…but if this sword doesn’t stop while it attacks the enemy, the opponent will probably die. Listen, don’t aim for Jink himself, but at his sword. Just charge at the side of the sword at the abdomen and use a «Horizontal» to end this.”

  “Re, really?”

  “Absolutely, I promise.”

  I pat Eugeo on the back and nodded over at Jink and his old dad who were glaring at me with suspicious looks before retreating into the crowd.

  On the podium, chief Gasupht clapped and shouted. SILENCE!

  “Then—even though it wasn’t planned, we’ll have a duel between the guard captain Jink and the woodcut…no, swordsman Eugeo right now! Both sides will fight until the sword is inches away from each other, and no damage on each other’s lives will be allowed, understood!?”

  Before he even finished, *Shiing*, Jink drew out the sword at his waist, and Eugeo was a little slower as he drew his sword too. The villagers saw the Sword of Blue Rose that was letting out a beautiful light as it shone under the bonfires.

  It seemed that Jink was overwhelmed by the pressure of the opponent’s sword. His head tilted back slightly before returning to its original position immediately. The young guard’s face showed more anger, and he pointed at Eugeo with his left hand before saying unexpectedly.

  “IS THAT SWORD REALLY YOURS, EUGEO? IF IT’S BORROWED, I HAVE THE RIGHT TO STOP YOU FROM USI …”