Sword Art Online - Volume 8 - Early and Late

by Reki Kawahara

  [Really…?]

  A voice could be heard with a strange echo. It sounded like a woman’s voice from the ground.

  Trying his best not to let his consciousness waver, Schmitt timidly looked up.

  Deep inside the shadows of the twisted tree branches, there was a black-clothed shadow that appeared silently. It was covered in a pitch black hooded robe, its sleeves down, and it was impossible to see what was inside the hood in the darkness.

  However, Schmitt felt a sharp stare coming from there and used both hands to cup his mouth that was about to let out a cry tightly before hurriedly nodding a few times.

  “It…it’s true. I didn’t know anything! I just…just followed orders, just…a little thing…”

  [What did you do…? What did you do to me, Schmitt…?]

  Slowly, Schmitt used his widened eyes to look at a thin and long black line that reached out from the right sleeve of the robe.

  It was a sword, but extremely fine. It was a one-handed sword almost no one used, the close-ranged piercing-type weapon «Estoc». The blade that looked like a large needle had lots of spikes that were rounded in a spiral shape.

  The third «Spiked weapon».

  Hiiii!! The soft whimper came from deep within his throat. Schmitt put his forehead down onto the ground for the umpteenth time.

  “I…I just…on the day we had decided to sell the ring, I found a memo and a crystal in my belt pouch…and there was an instruction……”

  [Who was it, Schmitt?]

  This time, it was a man’s voice.

  [Whose instruction was it…?]

  The stiff neck cringed again, and Schmitt just looked frozen.

  He tried forcefully to lift that metal-like heavy head and glanced over. The second death god appeared near the shadows of the trees. He had the same design on him, wearing a black hooded robe, but was just slightly taller than the first one.

  “…Grimlock…?”

  Lowering his head slightly, Schmitt whimpers with what was barely a voice.

  “You’re…you’re dead too……?”

  The death god didn’t answer, but wordlessly stepped forward. From under the hood, an ominous and distorted voice could be heard.

  [Who…who instigated you…?]

  “I…I DON’T KNOW! IT’S TRUE!!”

  Schmitt frantically shouted out.

  “THE MEMO…THE MEMO JUST WROTE THAT I WAS TO FOLLOW THE LEADER…THAT WHEN SHE MOVED INTO THE INN AND WENT OUT OF HER ROOM TO EAT, I WAS TO SECRETLY PUT THE TRANSFER CRYSTAL AT A SPOT INSIDE HER ROOM AND, AND PUT THE CRYSTAL INTO THE GUILD STORAGE. THAT, THAT’S ALL THAT WAS WRITTEN…I, I ONLY DID THIS! I DIDN’T TOUCH GRISELDA AT ALL! THA…THAT PERSON ACTUALLY STOLE THE RING AND KILLED HER…I, I DIDN’T THINK THIS WOULD HAPPEN AT ALL!”

  Just when Schmitt was defending himself, the two death gods remained unmoved. The night wind blew by, causing the wilted plants and robes to sway.

  The fear continued to rise up in Schmitt’s mind as he approached his limit, and immediately, he recalled.

  On that day half a year ago, he took out the parchment from his belt pouch, and the moment he saw it, he felt that it was really reckless and was shocked by it, and yet amazed by such an ingenious method.

  The room in the inn would normally be looked, and aside from the time for sleeping, anyone who was designated as a friend or a guild member could open it. He could use this point to set the transfer crystal inside the room and enter while the owner of the room was sleeping. He just needed to use the trade function to move the hand of the other party to drag the ring and press the confirm button.

  There was a risk that the person would be accidentally discovered, but Schmitt’s instincts told him that this was the only way to steal an item inside the area. The last part of the memo noted that the reward would be half of the money earned from the sale of the ring. If he was successful, he could get 4 times the reward, but if he failed—if the leader woke up during the trade and saw the face, she would only see the one who gave him the memo, the criminal in this ring incident. Even if that guy wanted to drag him down later, he just had to insist that he didn’t know. He was to enter the room and set up the transfer target over there, so there wouldn’t be any evidence.

  Schmitt was at a loss, but this loss meant that he betrayed the guild and the leader, all just to enter the clearing group immediately. Of course, if this could help with them clearing the game, it would help the leader out in the end. Schmitt thought of this to justify his actions and followed the instructions on the memo.

  The next night, Schmitt learnt that the leader was killed. A day later, he found that there was a bag with a deposit on his bed.

  “I…was, really scared! If I told everyone else about the memo, everyone would eye me…so, that is why, I had no idea who wrote the memo at all!! Please, please forgive me, Griselda, Grimlock. I, I really never thought of becoming a killer’s accomplice. Please believe me, please…!”

  Schmitt continued to press his head against the ground, letting out a sharp whimper.

  A sudden gust of night wind blew by as the tree branches rustled.

  The moment the sounds subsided, the ominous echoes up till now vanished like a lie, and the woman’s voice without the ominous echo rang silently.

  “I recorded it all, Schmitt.”

  He heard this—a voice that he had just heard recently. Schmitt timidly lifted his face and widened his eyes in shock.

  She removed her pitch black hood, and what appeared inside was the face of the victim who was definitely killed by the robed death god several hours ago. The dark purple wavy hair swayed with the wind.

  “…Yoruko…?”

  Schmitt asked with a voice so soft that it could barely be considered a voice, and looked at the death god beside Yoruko who also revealed his true identity. He was about to pass out as he whispered,

  “…Caynz.”

  Part 10

  “They, they’re still alive, that means…!?”

  Asuna was shocked as she cried out, and I slowly nodded my head.

  “Un, they’re still alive. Both Yoruko-san and Kains-shi.”

  “Bu, but then…but.”

  Asuna continued to pant a few times and clasp the hands at her knees together before arguing back with a hoarse tone.

  “But…didn’t we see it yesterday. Kains-san’s…death when he was pierced by the black spear and left to hang at the window.”

  “No.”

  I shake my head violently.

  “What we saw was Kains-shi’s avatar and lots of polygons scattered all over the place to make it look like he disappeared from the scene.

  “So, so that means, this isn’t ‘death’ in this world?”

  “…Do you still remember? Yesterday, Kains-shi, who was dangling at the window of the church was always staring at a spot in the sky.”

  I point my right index finger in front of me and said. Asuna nodded her head slightly.

  “That’s the HP bar, right? He was looking at the continuous pierce damage whittle down his HP bit by bit…”

  “That’s what I thought too, but this wasn’t the case. He wasn’t looking at the HP bar, but the durability of the full-plate armor he was equipped with.”

  “Du, durability?”

  “Un, this morning, when I was experimenting with the continuous pierce damage inside the area, didn’t I take off the glove on my left hand? Inside the area, the HP won’t drop no matter what the player does, but the durability will drop…it’s like the sand baguettes we just ate. Of course, the durability of equipment won’t drop naturally like food, but that’s if they’re not damaged. Listen up. That time, when Kains’ armor was pierced through, what the spear wore out wasn’t his HP, but the durability of the armor.”

  On hearing this, Asuna, who had been frowning till now, widened her eyes.

  “The, then…it was Kains-san’s armor that shattered…”

  “That’s right. It’s the armor he was wearing. I already felt that it w
as weird why he wore such thick armor even though they were just having a meal…that was worn to make him look obvious when he exploded into polygons. The moment the armor was destroyed, Kains-shi…”

  “Use the crystal to teleport away.”

  Asuna closed her eyes to recall that image in her mind, and said.

  “…This resulted in a ‘phenomenon where a blue light is given as polygons are shattered and scattered, indicating that the player died’…in other words, it looks like a death effect, but in fact, it was completely different.”

  “Un, Kains-shi probably took the spear outside the area and stabbed it into him with the armor, used the teleport crystal to move back to the second level of the church, hang himself with the rope and wait till the armor’s about to be destroyed before jumping off and teleporting away while the armor was wrecked…something like that…”

  Asuna nodded slowly yet forcefully, closed her eyes and heaved out a few words.

  “…Then, Yoruko-san’s ‘disappearance’ is the same trick too…right……so they’re still alive…”

  Asuna never let out her voice as she merely moved her lips, muttering ‘thank goodness’, but again bit her lips.

  “Bu, but, she was definitely wearing thick armor, but when did the throwing dagger stab her? If it is inside the area, it should probably be blocked by the code, and it would be impossible for it to hit her.

  “It was already on her right from the beginning.”

  I immediately answered.

  “Think about it carefully. When Schmitt, you and I entered the room, she never let us see her back. On receiving our message that we were going to visit her, she first ran outside to stab the dagger into her back before returning to the inn. With that hairstyle of hers, if she just sat down properly on the sofa, she would be able to hide the very small dagger handle completely, take note of the durability of the clothing, talk to us, see that the timing was about there, retreat to the window, use the foot to kick the wall or something to create a sound, turn her back against us, and make it look like the dagger was stabbed into her at that moment.”

  “So she fell out of the window…to prevent us from hearing the command of the transfer…in that case, that black robe you had chased after, Kirito-kun, that was…”

  “There’s a very likely chance that it wasn’t Grimlock, but Kains.”

  I made this conclusion, and Asuna looked up at the sky before heaving a short sigh.

  She frowned as she moved towards me.

  “Didn’t we head to the Black Iron Palace yesterday to check the «Monument of Life»? Kains-san’s death was clearly crossed out, the time of death was the same, and the cause of death was also ‘Continuous Pierce Damage’.”

  “Do you remember the spelling of that Kains-san?”

  “Erm…I remember it was K, a, I, n, s, like that.”

  “Un, Yoruko-san told that to us and we naturally believed it. But…look at this.”

  I handed the parchment that became the clue to solving this case over to Asuna. Several hours ago, Schmitt wrote down the list of members of «Golden Apple». Asuna reached out to take it, looked at the parchment for a bit and shouted out “EHHH!!?”

  “«Caynz>….!? Is this the way Caynz-san’s name was written!?”

  “It would be understandable if it was just one alphabet, but if 3 alphabets were wrong, it probably isn’t Schmitt’s memory at fault, but Yoruko-san gave us the wrong spelling. She started with K to log Kains-san’s death and mistake him for Caynz-san, who starts with C.”

  “Eh…that, that means…”

  Asuna’s expression stiffened, and her tone hush down.

  “At that time…we witnessed C’s Caynz-san’s fake death, and that K Kains-san died under the continuous piercing damage at some place in Aincrad? It’s probably…not a coincidence, is it…? Don’t tell me…”

  “No no.”

  I smiled slightly and waved my right hand hard.

  “It wasn’t that Yoruko was the accomplice and killed K at that moment. Listen up. The death records on the Monument of Life indicated that it was the ‘Month of Sakura, day 22, 18:27’…and in Aincrad. It was the second time that the month of Sakura, 22nd April happened.”

  “Ah…”

  Asuna couldn’t say anything at that moment, and could only give a weak smile.

  “…So it was like that. I didn’t consider this at all. Last year, on the same day and the same time, that Kains-san died without being involved in this case…”

  “Yeah. Most likely, this was the start of the plan.”

  I took a deep breath again, clearing my thoughts in my mind as I continued to say,

  “…Yoruko-san and Caynz-shi probably knew early on that this Kains who had a similar sounding name but different spelling died last year in April. At first, it was probably just random talk, but they probably realized later on that they could use this coincidence to fake Caynz-shi’s death, and not in a normal death in battle against a monster…but a frightening method to enact an ‘inside area murder’.”

  “…It’s true that I was fooled just like you. The same time of death as someone else who had a similarly sounding name, destroying the inside area installation through continuous piercing damage, and a transfer crystal…with these three things, they could let the inside area PK look just like the real thing…and the aim for this doing is….”

  Asuna whispered softly.

  “To force the culprit of the ‘ring incident’ to appear and let him be suspected as the culprit. Yoruko-san and Caynz-san acted this murder incident out to create a fake ‘avenger’, a death god that could ignore the Anti-Criminal code and carry out PK inside the area…and in the end, the one driven by this fear was…”

  “Schmitt.”

  I nodded and used my fingers to touch my chin.

  “He probably just doubted at the beginning…Schmitt went from the middle level «Golden Apple» guild, and managed to join the largest clearing guild, the «Divine Dragons Alliance». That would really be a unique situation. Without leveling up quickly or changing equipment quickly…it should be impossible.”

  “The conditions to join the DDA are already very strict…then, was he the culprit in this ring incident…? Did he kill Griselda and take the ring…?”

  Asuna, who had seen Schmitt many times as an advisor in the clearing group strategic meetings, looked rather nervous and stared at me.

  My mind immediately thought of the profile of that spear-user, and I shook my head slowly.

  “…I can’t tell. There’s information to provide suspicion…but as to whether that guy has the presence of a «red»…”

  The killers in SAO, called red players, would more or less have a strange presence around them, but this was to be expected. That is because those players who killed other players in this word are basically preventing this game from being cleared. To put it a little more drastically, red players are people who have the thinking that ‘it doesn’t matter whether we get out of here or not’ —— or more radically, they hope for ‘this death game to continue’.

  Such a negative tone would definitely appear in terms of words. However, I couldn’t detect any madness of a ‘red’ from Schmitt, who was thoroughly scared of the black-clothed death god and requested us to escort him back to his headquarters.

  “…I can’t tell, but he’s definitely involved in that, and that can explain things thoroughly…”

  On hearing me say that, Asuna nodded in agreement, leaning against the back of one of two chairs that were lined at the window. She seemed to forget looking at the bar opposite as she looked up into the sky above the streets.

  “…No matter what, Schmitt is forced into a tight spot now. He believes that there’s someone after him for revenge, and feels that the area…no, even the headquarters of the guild isn’t safe. Then…what will he do next?”

  “If there was an accomplice, he will probably contact that person. Yoruko-san and Caynz-shi were probably waiting for that. But if Schmitt doesn
’t know where the accomplice is, un —— if it’s me…”

  What would I do? If I killed a player out of greed and hatred and felt absolutely remorseful about it, what would I do?

  Up till now, I haven’t taken the life of any player in this world, but there were friends of mine who died because of me, because of my foolishness and ugly ego that caused everyone in my guild other than me to die, and I had always regretted that. I used a tree that grew from the garden of a certain inn which we used as a home as their grave. It’s not really considered asking for redemption, but I would often bring wine and flowers over. So, Schmitt probably——

  “…If Griselda-san has a grave, he will definitely go there to beg for forgiveness.”

  Asuna seemed to detect the change in my tone as she looked up from the chair at me and smiled in a steady manner.

  “That’s right. I will do that too. At the headquarters of the KoB, there are graves for the people who died in boss battles —— that’s right, maybe, Yoruko-san and Caynz-san will definitely be there…at Griselda-san’s grave, waiting for Schmitt-san to appear…”

  Silence came suddenly, and her expression became gloomy.

  “…? What is it?”

  “Uun…it’s just that I thought of this. What if Griselda-san’s grave is outside the area? If Schmitt-san goes there…will Yoruko-san and Caynz-san forgive him just like that? I don’t think it’s actually possible, but maybe they might really carry out revenge…?”

  This unexpected theory caused my back to tense up.

  I can’t say that it’s impossible. Yoruko and Caynz spent so much effort trying to act out the ‘inside the area murders’, so they should have some level of hatred to the culprit in the ring incident. They should have at least used up two teleport crystals. Considering their levels, this should be a rather large expense. They had gone through so much, so would they only be satisfied with getting a confession…?”

  “Ah…no…actually…?”

  I shook my head after noticing something.