Sword Art Online - Volume 10 - Alicization Running

by Reki Kawahara

  I continued to persist until this unstable posture couldn't be maintained any longer, and immediately started my movement in one go.

  “Uooh...!”

  I unknowingly let out a deep growl, and the right foot that stepped down rumbled the ground. The sword that swung from the top left side to the bottom right side let out a sharp slash in a sharp angle with the assistance of the system— that should be the case. However, the sword didn't stop as it hit the ground.

  The powerful recoil rushed up my right hand. If I wanted to force myself to drag the sword back, I would definitely take damage at this point, this was the judgment I made instantly. I gritted my teeth and pulled the sword that was stuck in the ground 20cm deep, seemingly flailing as I fell back.

  *ZPANG!* The blunt impact sound rang behind me. I turned around as my back landed on the grassy ground.

  —So I failed? What wasn't enough? My level? The sword priority? Or both...?

  What entered the eyes of my body that was spread out wide and lying on the ground—

  The large amount of dirt and grass that was sent flying by the slash.

  And the sight of a man who was standing at a silent corner of this empty space on the other side.

  What covered the tall and lanky body was really the school uniform, but the color wasn't of the basic grey color. There was a bright cobalt blue line on the seemingly pearl white based uniform. It's the privilege of one of the 12 elite swordsmen trainee to be able to modify their uniform colors at will.

  Rina-sempai had purple with a greyish tinge. Golgosso-sempai had a thick green color. And as for pearl white color with blue... that would be the color of the swordsmen head Uolo Levanteinn—

  The light blond hair was kept short, and undoubtedly, the one who was staring at me with his emotionless steel blue eyes was the strongest man in this Academy.

  As I laid down on the ground, I continued to stare at a black radial-shaped stain of dirt on the spotless white uniform, one my sword shot out.

  To be honest, it's not like I had never thought about running away.

  If this were Aincrad, and if the opponent was a big shot from the Divine Dragon Alliance Guild, I probably would have fled away without hesitation. But in this world, running away would be the worst option if I messed up something. There would be an added penalty to my crime, and in the end, it would be the terrifying «breaking the Taboo Index».

  Thus, I could only remain still for a second, and then knelt down immediately as I put the sword in my right hand onto the ground —to show the highest order of respect— lowered my head and yelled,

  “I'M REALLY SORRY, LORD TRAINEE LEVANTEINN!! PLEASE FORGIVE MY SIN OF DISRESPECT!”

  The only other time I probably begged for forgiveness so desperately was likely on the 61st level of Aincrad when Asuna beat me up in her room. I continued to think about such useless things as I kept kneeling.

  “If I'm correct, it seems like you're the valet for trainee Celulute.”

  I heard such a deep voice.

  I tentatively lifted my head, and saw the steel blue eyes immediately before nodding my head to admit.

  “Yes, I'm Novice trainee Kirito.”

  “Is that so.”

  The trainee swordsman glanced at the black sword on the grassy ground, and then continued with a meaningful high pitched male voice,

  “According to the academy rules' tossing dirt on an upperclassman's clothing would completely warrant a punishment authority of insolence...”

  On hearing this, I couldn't help but groan in my heart.

  This «punishment right» was a right the model students of the school students, the elite swordsmen trainees had. They could punish students who infringed the academy rules lightly due to accident based on their own discretion. I had been give countless swing practices because I had been late getting to Rina-sempai's room.

  Then, what would they do with those who broke the academy rules severely— In this world, such a thing wouldn't happen. Of course, infringing on the rules severely naturally wouldn't be something that could be triggered by accident, and Artificial Fluctlights themselves couldn't break this rule on their own will. The only one at risk here would be me, a natural Fluctlight, but fortunately, I hadn't done anything too eyecatching and managed to last through a year safely. —However.

  To actually dirty Chairman Uolo's uniform with a large pile of dirt... that would be a critical crime here...

  “—However, I don't hate you for hiding from others and practicing on a rest day, even though you didn't care that «practicing on a rest day» itself is against the rules.”

  Gehhh— I again let out a wordless cry.

  In that case— this seemed to be the case. However, if I agreed about it now, it may end up raising the possibility of the punishment authority being used. I didn't know whether it was useless or not, but I had to struggle.

  “This-This isn't what you think it is, Lord Chairman. This isn't practice... Eh, erm, yeah, I'm just testing the new sword. The repairs of the good I requested a shop in the 7th area to do was complete, and I couldn't wait till tomorrow...”

  At this moment, I finally realized something major.

  This blond flat-haired guy... When did he first see me? No, before that, why was he here?

  I deliberately came all the way into this forest to practice the «consecutive-hit skills» the sword skills Underworld didn't have. The reason I did this was to show off the consecutive hit skills to Rina-sempai to help her beat the head. However, the chairman saw this before I could even show it to sempai. Wouldn't this be a complete reversal of what I wanted to do?

  —It seemed the strongest man in the Academy realized my thinking as he gave a slight wry smile.

  “...You say you're here to test your sword, but your shout's rather forceful. Speaking of which, I only saw you use that sword to slash into the ground and fall back. I'll just treat it as... being unable to stand firmly while being led by a sword you're not used to, that's all. I'll give that you didn't break the rules of training on a rest day, since I came here for a similar reason.”

  As I felt relieved on hearing this, I tilted my head in a perplexed manner,

  “A similar... reason?”

  “Let's just say that you're not the only one who tried to swing swords on a rest day for this kind of reason.”

  The nicely-shaped lips showed a confident smile as Uolo turned his stare towards the empty ground I'm practicing on.

  “But I found this place first. I agreed too that I would leave this place for my valet once I graduate. So you have to find somewhere else.”

  —I see. No wonder. I thought. The man standing in front of me just found a reason that this wasn't training, but something else, and came to practice on a rest day... This empty space was used to practice, and I just happened to arrive at this place at the same time, that's all. The reason why the grassy land is so neat was because the Life was reset every week when Uolo stepped on it.

  I'll find a place with more weeds then. I made such a decision in my mind and lowered my head again.

  “...Understood, I will do so. Thank you for your magnanimous...”

  “It's too early for you to thank me, trainee Kirito.”

  “You-You're saying?”

  “I did say that I won't be pursuing matters about you training on a rest day, but I never said that I'll forgive you about this.”

  I slowly lifted my head, and saw that the trainee swordsman lifted a right finger with a serious expression on his face while pointing at the chest of his uniform. He was pointing at the black stain on the pearl white cloth.

  “Bu-But, chairman, didn't you say that you 'don't hate' me for that...”

  “Ahh, I did say so. That's why I won't give any punishment like cleaning the entire swordsmen dorm or copy 1000 lines of spells.”

  Phew. I was relieved for only that moment however.

  The flat-haired strongest swordsman continued to use his fingertip to brush off the dirt on his un
iform and he said something unbelievable.

  “Novice trainee Kirito, your punishment will be to spar against me once. Not with a wooden sword, but with that sword you're using. I'll use this too.”

  At this moment, I finally found that the sword dangling on the left waist of the swordsman trainee had a sword hilt of pure gold and a deep blue sheath. Anyone could tell that it was a real sword with very high priority.

  “...Spa-Spar...? As-As in?”

  “The term sparring would only mean 'to practice in a match format', nothing else. However, this place is has too little space. The large practice arena should be empty on a rest day, so let's move over there.”

  After saying such a fluent flow of words, the head swordsman simply turned around.

  For two seconds, I stared blankly at the white back that seemed to glide off under the trees. Once my thoughts finally grasped the current situation, I seriously wondered whether I should run away, but «not fulfilling my punishment» would be a serious infringement of rules this time. I couldn't possibly let myself be expelled here if I wanted to became an elite swordsman trainee during the promotional exam at the end of this month like Uolo.

  I lifted up the black sword lying in front of me and cleanly sheathed it behind me before standing up. Unwilling to give up, I continued to glance twice at the stone wall of the Academy that exposed itself through the trees, made my decision in a reluctant manner, and chased after the blond flat-haired guy.

  There were all sorts of weeds and grass dangling around the feet from the empty land a step away, but Uolo never showed any signs of staggering.

  ...Won't it be easy for this guy to dodge or knock down a mere pile of dirt?

  At this moment, I realized this issue, but everything was too late.

  Part 5

  I walked out of the forest, met up with Uolo on the stone path, and the 4pm bell rang.

  Unknowingly, the sky was dyed a little with the color of the night, and the campus started to show signs of students coming back from the streets. They all widened their eyes once they saw the figure in white and blue uniform walking in front of me.

  This was to be expected. Ever since Uolo Levanteinn became an elite swordsman trainee, he practically never appeared in places other than the dorm. He was such a character who appeared so rarely that other than his valet, the students would only see him at the tests that occur 4 times every year. Even I, a valet of Rina-sempai, would only see him a few times in the corridor even after going in and out of the swordsmen dorm every day. If I have to say it, this was the first time I officially met him.

  And right behind this legendary existence was a novice trainee swordsman of common birth... and the location was the large practice arena, so it would definitely be an eye-catcher. However, the most terrifying thing at this point would be that quite a few students discovered this and started hurrying over from the school campus and the trainee dorms. At this point, the entire academy was going 'Something's going on at the practice arena!', and news of it had definitely spread around.

  The curfew of a rest day would be 7pm, which would be slightly later, so more than half the students would still be outside at this time. But even so, there was a large group of students buzzing and coming over to observe, no, watch this show. In this case, I just needed to hurry up, settle this, and hide in Rina-sempai's room until the commotion ended...

  No, wait. How am I going to settle this commotion...

  As Uolo said, «sparring» in this academy would basically be an incomplete duel that's more than practice. The principle would be that we would fight until one side's cornered, but if both sides agreed, the rule of «first strike wins» like the old SAO era was recognized. In other words, once someone took a blow from the opponent first, the battle would be over.

  In this case, the loser would definitely take some level of damage. This was the one exception to the rule of «Deliberately reducing other people's Lives» the Taboo Index forbade for so many countless times. The 'first strike win' duel that even the Zakkaria guards forbade was permitted at this Academy, and the reason for that was that the medical office had gathered all sorts of high-priced medicine and teachers who could carry out high-level Sacred Arts. In other words, even if we got heavily injured in the sparring, it would be fine if it could be treated.

  Even though I say that, chairman Uolo said that he would be using a real sword in this sparring, so the rules would be that we would fight until one side's cornered. If I wanted to win, I just need to dodge or parry off the powerful overhead strike, and make sure my sword stops before I hit when I counter.

  Of course, I could tell that this would be dauntingly hard. No, before that, should I really be winning?

  Uolo was the biggest objective Rina-sempai had been aiming to beat. Would it be right for me, a valet who had been undergoing sempai's training, to beat this opponent? Would Rina-sempai really be happy even if I win...

  As I started to lower my head and form these thoughts, two set of rushed footsteps unknowingly entered my ears.

  I suddenly recovered, lifted my head and looked towards the left. What entered my eyes was the scene of Elite Swordsman Trainee Solterina Celulute with her long skirt fluttering as she dashed over and my partner Eugeo running behind her. Both of them didn't run through the path, but went directly through the hills that covered the grasslands.

  Leaving aside Eugeo, I had never seen Rina-sempai pant while running up till now. Uolo, who was walking in front of me, suddenly stopped and turned to the left.

  Rina-sempai took only a few seconds to get onto the path, gave me a worried expression, and faced off against Uolo. She tidied her greyish-purple skirt impeccably, straightened her back, and said,

  “...Levanteinn-dono, what's the meaning of this?”

  In this Academy, Rina-sempai was the only student who did not use polite words to Uolo. The students surrounding from afar let out a soft commotion.

  The top swordsman took the piercing stare of those deep blue eyes without flinching. The short blond head tilted slightly as he calmly answered,

  “As you can see, Celulute-dono, your valet did something improper. I considered that it was somewhat inappropriate to punish him severely on a rest day... So I intended to spar against him.”

  The buzz surrounding us got louder.

  Rina-sempai finally noticed a black stain on the torso of Uolo's uniform. It seemed that she was able to deduce what was going on as she gently bit her lips.

  While the top and second ranked elite swordsmen trainees were facing each other, I nudged my way towards my partner standing blankly near the human wall. His face was showing the expression I was ever-familiar with— the blend of 'What did you do this time' and 'Don't tell me... You've done it again...?' expressions.

  “...You got here rather fast.”

  I whispered. Eugeo nodded slightly a few times.

  “I was in the cafeteria of the swordsmen dorm, and Zobun-sempai's valet came running in saying that the chairman's going to fight against you. I was thinking 'How was that possible?', but came running over with Celulute-sempai... But, it seems that it's not impossible at all.”

  “Ahh, well... That seems to be the case.”

  I nodded. Eugeo seemed like he wanted to say something as he took a deep breath, but after pausing for a few seconds, he merely let out a huge sigh.

  “...No, it's a miracle that you didn't manage to cause any problems up till now, Kirito. Please, show off all the troubles you have accumulated for this one year today.”

  “As expected of you who've been with me for such a long time, partner.”

  I inadvertently giggled. Eugeo patted me on my back, causing me to look away.

  Rina-sempai was still staring at Chairman Uolo with a stern expression, but even I, who hardly memorized the rules, knew that breaking this deadlock was impossible.

  I left Eugeo and moved to sempai's side, nodded gently to my beloved mentor.

  “I'm really sorry to make you worry, sempai. But
I'm fine... Or rather, I feel that facing off against the chairman is sorta lucky.”

  I whispered as I stared at sempai's dark blue eyes, trying to read the emotions in them. I wanted to know what she felt about her own valet facing her biggest opponent.

  However— I immediately felt regret over my actions. All I could see deep within sempai's eyes was worry.

  “Kirito... How are you going to win in this spar?”

  This question was too sudden, so I blinked as I answered,

  “Eh...? We're using real swords, so I guess we'll fight until we're cornered...”

  “Oh yes, I forgot to explain.”

  Uolo interrupted as he explained with the usual calm expression,

  “I won't do sparring when we fight until one side is cornered as that will only dull my sword strikes. The exams the Academy specified was something out of my hands, but personally, I have been using the rule of first strike win in my fights.”

  “Eh...? Then, in other words...”

  The head swordsman trainee showed a slight change of expression in front of the shocked me. It seemed that he was baring... or rather, revealing his fangs like a carnivore.

  “But speaking of which, we can only fight in a first strike match under both parties' agreement. This was decided by the Taboo Index, so it takes priority over the swordsman trainee punishment... I'll let you choose then, trainee Kirito.”

  The crowd that had been buzzing quietly immediately hushed up.

  Of course you have to fight until one side's cornered! I seemed to hear Eugeo's voice, and I didn't need to hear Rina-sempai speak up to know that it was reckless to carry out a first strike match with real swords instead of wooden swords, against the strongest man in the Academy.

  That's what I felt, but—

  “I'll let you decide then, Levanteinn-dono. I'm the one being punished.”

  However, such words seemed to come out from my mouth automatically.