Sword Art Online - Volume 10 - Alicization Running

by Reki Kawahara

  The only exception would be the «Integrity Knights» that could fly a wyvern from Centoria to the Mountain Range at the Edge 750km, but that Sacred Task was too unique.

  Thus, the residents of Underworld basically wouldn't move too far. However, this didn't mean that travelling itself was forbidden. They would be allowed to move far away as long as they followed their assigned Sacred Tasks like a Centoria furniture dealer moving to Zakkaria in the distant North. Besides, I myself followed the rule of this world and even went through an entire country.

  In other words, it's all up to their personalities if they wanted to go on a journey or not. And as for personalities, 99% of the Underworld residents were all rather conservative.

  However, it didn't mean that there wasn't anyone who had such a voracious sense of adventure.

  One of them was a craftsman, Satore, who opened his shop in the 7th district of North Centoria.

  “Take a look at this thing!”

  As the coarse voice rang, several rectangular stone slabs were thrown right in front of Eugeo and me, letting out rattling sounds. The black stone tablets that had a delicate texture seemed to be whetstones from the Eastern Empire. However, right now, they were all worn down to less than 2cm thickness, and no matter what, it looked like they could not be used anymore.

  “This black Corengan whetstone could be used for 3 years, but that thing of yours already broke 6 of mine!”

  “Is-Is that so...I-I'm really sorry...”

  I continued to earnestly apologize to the shopkeeper who was seething red as I looked around.

  In this «Satore Metalcraft» shop, the metal appliances, ornaments and even weapons were all lined up. Amongst them, the most eye-catching would be the numerous swords hung on the walls deep within the store. Why would a mere handicraft store have swords? The first time Eugeo and I came here, we timidly asked this fierce looking owner. He himself gave a simple answer, “This old me wanted to be a metalworker, so this old me made swords.”

  I asked him about what the differences were between a metalworker and a handicraftsman in this world, and unexpectedly, the tools were the only things that were different. A metalworker uses a furnace, an anvil and a hammer to create a product. In contrast, a craftsman uses a chisel, a hammer and a rasp. In other words, it was just a difference of forging and carving.

  In the real world, I used two kinds of tools, an «aluminum forge» and an «aluminum chisel» on my mountain bike, so I thought it was somewhat the same... and so when I randomly said that 'if they both produce swords, it's alright to ask a craftsman'. However, when I spoke up, the shop owner Satore glared at me with an intense stare and said, “Even if the same kind of metal is used, the finished product won't be the same”.

  From the way he said this, it seemed that even if the exact same metal slabs were used, a sword that was forged under high temperature would have a higher priority (that Class Object number or something) than chiseling out a sword. Because of this, Satore seemed to be viewed as an 'impractical fake' when he started out making swords.

  At that time, the adventurous and young Satore was burning with rage and motivation. He worked hard to prepare a year's worth of products, left his shop to his wife and apprentice, and went on a long journey to find a material that would create a better sword by chiseling than by forging.

  But even though it was a journey, a craftsman would be unable to gain a permit to leave the country, so he could only move up to North Centoria. For several months, he went from town to town, village to village, found several prospective materials but they didn't meet his expectations. Finally he reached a large tree that seemed to grow into the clouds in the forest near the North border.

  It was an impregnable pitch black large cedar tree that would not be burned even if fire was lit on it, and would break the blades of axes swung at it... of course, it was the «Demon's Tree» Gigas Cedar.

  At that time, he met the «Cutter» old man Garitta (who should be young at that time) and became friends with him. He intended to snap a branch off the Gigas Cedar to collect the material for the sword, so he climbed up the tree with Garitta's help, used a rasp to try and grind at a branch he liked, but couldn't even make a slight cut for 3 days and 3 nights.

  Satore broke down in tears as he gave up his thoughts, and told old man Garitta to notify him if this tree was cut down one day. At that time, he would definitely come back to this forest to get this branch.

  Old man Garitta fulfilled Satore's wish in a slightly different manner.

  Last March, when we finally reached the destination of our long journey, North Centoria, we followed old man Garitta's words and visited Satore's metalwork shop. Satore was speechless for 3 minutes when he saw the branch presented to him. He spent 5 minutes inspecting it, and then said,

  —Give me a year. One year later, this branch will become an unbelievable sword.

  —So unbelievable that the Integrity Knights' divine tools will not be able to match it.

  And then, after a year— on the day, Human World Calendar Year 380, 7th of March, today, the owner greeted Eugeo and me, who visited this handicrafts shop, with a seething red expression.

  “The-Then... Is-Is the sword finished?”

  I timidly interrupted Satore's seemingly endless complaints as I asked.

  Shut up. The shop owner who stared directly at me with his grey beard let out a snort and bent down. Satore took out a long and narrow clothed package from under the counter with both hands, exerted force from his sturdy body and used his strength to lift the clothed bag.

  *GONK!* The cloth package let out a blunt sound as it laid on the counter. The shopkeeper didn't let go of it immediately.

  He let the clothed package lie on his right hand, used his left hand to stroke his beard, and spoke,

  “Young man, I still haven't talked about the payment.”

  “Ugh.”

  I was speechless. The Master Swords Academy is run by the country, so school fees were exempted. But during this time, I had been spending money on food or other stuff during my rest days, so I used up quite a lot of money I saved up in the Zakkaria guard squadrons. In this time, the fees for the sword (not to mention 1 year's worth of labor and 6 high class whetstones) didn't seem to be small here.

  “...No worries, Kirito. I brought all my money here just in case.”

  I was really grateful for Eugeo's soft words behind me, but for some reason, I had a very bad feeling about it.

  If, just if, our total fortune still wasn't enough to pay for this... would we be breaking the Taboo Index? Will the police, no, the Integrity Knights immediately come flying over to capture us and send us to jail...?

  “—It's not like I can't charge you nothing.”

  After a long while, Satore finally said these words, so Eugeo and I had the urge to heave a long sigh of relief. However, right before that, he continued “But”,

  “...But, young man, you have to be able to wield this monster. This thing and the materials themselves were really heavy, and it looks like you have some ability to carry it all the way from the North to Centoria... but leaving aside that, this thing might have become heavier once it became a sword. Metalworkers and craftsmen are all protected by God Terraria, so no matter how outstanding a sword is, there should be no problems moving it... but even this old me could only lift it by 1 Mel even after giving it all I got.”

  “...A monster, huh?”

  I muttered these words as I lowered my head to look at the clothed package.

  Even with a very thick piece of sackcloth surrounding it, I could feel an existence that could distort space emitting from it. For some reason, I couldn't move towards this thing that seemed to me tempting me... or maybe it was my body being magnetized by it as I hesitated.

  2 years ago, Eugeo and I embarked on our journey south in the midst of a resounding fanfare.

  Eugeo had the Blue Rose Sword, which was kept in the drawer underneath the novice trainee dorm bed, strapped on his waist, and I h
ad the pitch black tree branch I cut down from the Gigas Cedar. Old man Garitta directed me to ask the craftsman Satore to refine it, but for that moment, I was controlled by the urge whether or not I should bury it deep within the forest.

  Even till now, I still couldn't understand why. Logically, it would be more convenient for two swordsmen to each have swords instead of having to share one between them, and much more natural. Thus, I should be happy that there was a way to create a sword that rivaled the Blue Rose Sword instead of fearing it.

  I shook off this slight premonition with my sense of logic as I brought the Gigas Cedar branch to Centoria and handed it over to Satore.

  And then, on this day, a year later, the branch finally became the form of a sword, waiting for me to make first contact with it under the sackcloth.

  I took a deep breath, sighed out for a long while, and reached out my left hand. I grabbed it together with the cloth and lifted it from the counter. The high density of the thick and heavy feeling reached me, and the weight seemed to be similar to the Blue Rose sword.

  The sackcloth was merely draped over it slightly, so the top part fell off once it was lifted straight up, revealing the hilt.

  The pommel was a simple spindle-shape, and there was a layer of thin carved leather wrapped around it firmly. The knuckle guard seemed a little small, perhaps because it was a branch. The sword hilt had the black transparent-like color from the Gigas Cedar, and the leather that was wrapped on it was a glossy black.

  The sheath that covered the sword was also made of black leather. I reached my right hand out, let my fingers wrap around the grip slowly, and exerted strength in one go.

  Up till now, I had wielded countless swords, but most of them were equipment in VRMMO worlds. The only exception was the old bamboo sword at home. But even so— or rather, because of this, I would feel some sort of feeling whenever I gripped a sword hilt. An icy-like feeling went through the palm of my right hand, through the wrist, the arm, the shoulder, and the back.

  On the first level of Aincrad, when I held the «Anneal Blade» I earned from the first mission.

  On the ninth level, when I held the «Queen's Knightsword» the dark elf queen gifted me with.

  On the 50th level, when I held the black longsword «Elucidator» the boss dropped.

  When I held the white longsword «Dark Repulser» the blacksmith Lizbeth forged for me.

  And in the elf world ALFheim, when I wielded the legendary weapon «Excaliber» after much painstaking efforts—

  A similar icy-like feeling, or perhaps one more intense, shot through my entire body, causing me to be unable to move for a moment. Then the aftershock of the trembling faded and I exerted strength into my abdomen, pulling out the sword from the black leather sheath.

  *Jiiinnn—!!* A slightly heavier sword sound as compared to the Blue Rose Sword echoed throughout the shop. It was heavy, but there was no hard metallic feeling. Of course, it was different from a wooden sword. It was a sound that showed an undefined amount of hardness, and also one that showed much more sturdiness. I turn my wrist and pointed the sword at the sky, *riiiin*, and the sword blade let out a slight cry.

  “Mu...”

  The craftsman Satore muttered,

  “Wa...!”

  Eugeo let out a slight voice.

  And I held my breath, engrossed by the sword in my right hand.

  The blade's length can be said to be exactly the same as my old beloved sword «Elucidator», but I was the one who cut down this branch from the Gigas Cedar in the first place, and I was the one who specified the length, so that was to be expected.

  The blade was also covered by a pitch black color similar to the hilt. However, there was also a little transparent feeling as the sunlight shone on it through the windows from an angle, letting out a light golden color. The shape was that of a traditional one-handed straight sword, but slightly wider than the Blue Rose Sword.

  The sword edge appeared in a terrifying manner, and it seemed that my skin will be cut if I touched even the smoothest part slightly with my hand.

  “...Can you swing it?” Satore said in a deep voice.

  I didn't answer, but looked around the shop to see that no other customers were around. The young apprentice didn't look like he was moving out from the workshop.

  I moved my body and assumed a pose parallel with the long counter. There was a space more than 5m long in front of me, and that would be enough for me to test the sword. I grab onto the sword sheath with my left hand, opened my legs wide and bent down. I got into a basic one-handed vertical slash posture as I had no intention of using a sword skill.

  There was a round shield that was made from a round steel board directly opposite me. I used this thing that was approximately 5m away from me as an imaginary target and swung the sword.

  During this year, I had been using only the wooden sword for practice with my right hand, and the black sword let out a very heavy feeling. However, it wasn't an unpleasant feeling. The sword seemed to be motivating me or pleading me to use it well, a comfortable heavy feeling.

  As the sword was pointed towards the top, I took a step forward. I used the momentum generated by the vector shift instead of the power of my wrist and gathered my imagination. With all the energy that was gathered in the sword tip— I took a sharp step forward and unleashed my momentum.

  “Sh...!”

  The black light went racing down in a straight line. After a short moment, *swoosh*, a ripping sound could be heard in the air. The sword tip stopped just a hair-breadth away from the floor, but the power of the swing spread out in a fired manner as it rumbled the floor.

  I slowly got up. Eugeo first started clapping, and Satore snorted violently.

  “I see... so, a trainee from the Academy can swing that thing, huh?”

  “This is a nice sword.”

  I felt that there was no need to say anything else as I answered. On hearing this, the craftsman finally showed a smile and held his beard as he spoke,

  “Such redundant words. This thing took 6 Corengan whetstones... Either way, a promise is a promise. I won't be counting the chiseling fees. Once you become famous, just spread the word that your sword was made by the craftsman Satore. That thing is now yours.”

  “...I'm really grateful.”

  I took a deep bow, and Eugeo did the same. I lifted my head and sheathed the sword.

  Satore spent two seconds staring at the black sword, but immediately chuckled.

  “You can decide on the sword name. This sword will become the signature of my shop. Don't give it any funny name.”

  “Uu...”

  I was slightly speechless because of these words. Most likely, it was because all my equipment had names beforehand, so I'm not really good with this naming thing.

  “...I-I'll think about it carefully. Then, if its Life drops, I'll come over to ask you to maintain it...”

  “Um. Let me say this first. Don't expect me to charge you for free next time.”

  “Of-Of course.”

  We exchanged such words, and I bowed deeply again for the final time before taking a few steps towards the exit with Eugeo.

  At this moment, *GLANK!* A loud metallic sound could be heard from behind, causing me to jump up slightly in shock. I turned my head and saw Satore's widened eyes as he stared at the west wall.

  I followed his stare, and what I saw was the buckler for sale sliced in half down the middle as its right half landed on the floor.

  1. Deliberately destroying items that are sold in the shop is against the Taboo Index.

  2. It's against the Taboo Index to not pay for an item if it was broken accidently.

  3. If the owner excuses the person involved in 2, it would not be breaking the Taboo Index.

  I remembered this new knowledge as I hurried back to the Academy. Beside me, Eugeo-sensei was whispering about what happened just now with a pale expression.

  “...It was just sword testing. There's no need to use a secret move! Any
one can expect the sales item to be broken when you use such a move in the shop!”

  “Y-Yeah— ...but I never intended to use the sword... no, a secret move or something...”

  “Don't bluff. I saw it, Kirito. The moment you swung the sword down, it let out a little glow. Can it be anything else other than the Aincrad-style secret move I'm the only other person who know of?”

  “Y-Yeah... but my impression was that the Aincrad-style never had such a move...”

  We continued our conversation, and suddenly, a sweet aroma unwittingly entered my nostrils, dealing a blow to my head.

  The streets of North Centoria were divided into areas. The southernmost area, area 1 (the one closest to the Axiom Church) was the Imperial city, area 2 was the Imperial Governmental Area, 3 and 4 were streets of noble houses. The high class noble mansions built in area 3 were so luxurious that even Asuna's mansion would pale in comparison, it was even more shocking to hear that the 1st class to 3rd class earls had wide parcels of land they called «Personal Estates» outside the streets of Centoria.

  These personal estates had small villages in them, and the residents over there were treated like nobles' servants. Sometimes, children who grow up in such an environment would become uncouth young lords like Rainos and Wanbell.

  And then, in the 5th area, there were facilities with the «Imperial» names, like the Knights headquarters and the arena. Of course, the Imperial Master Sword Academy was located here too.

  Areas 6 and 7 were business districts, and in the northern areas 8, 9, 10, there were the streets the residents of Centoria live in.

  Based on what I learned during geography, this structure was exactly the same as the other empires' capitals, East, West and South Centoria. No matter how I thought, it was definitely not a coincidence, but it would be impossible to imagine the 4 kings gathered together and chatting in a friendly manner. I supposed this would be a unification designed by the bigshots in the Church.