“Wha—?”
“Let’s beat them before they get away! You get the one with the stick, Kirito!”
She is such a bundle of energy, I couldn’t help but marvel, before I snapped out of it and hurried after my partner.
Once it was all over, I realized the pack of sixteen muriquis hadn’t been as dangerous as I’d feared.
Because we fought them near the road rather than in the woods, they couldn’t use their nimble simian evasion techniques through the trees. The worst part ended up being the Muriqui Nut Throwers tossing hard shells at us from behind, but once you got used to them, it was pretty easy to swat the projectiles out of the air. Also, the Snatchers usually ran as soon as you attacked them when alone, but in a pack, they would stand their ground to the end. This made it quite easy to ensure we got back all the items the trio of Snatchers took.
If anything, the biggest problem for us was after the battle with the monkeys, when Cylon’s large assistant plodded back out of the trees. I’d completely forgotten about him, but now that the second attacker had left him behind in the woods, he’d faithfully returned to his carriage.
I was worried it would turn into another fight, but the man in the gas mask simply plodded up to the box of the horse cart and drove it down the road to Stachion without a glance at us. I wasn’t sure if he even registered that his master was dead or not.
With all traces of the night’s events gone from the forest, Asuna and I made our way back to Suribus, which was a closer trip than Stachion at this point.
“……So sleepy……so tired……so hungry……”
As soon as we passed through the town gates, and the text reading SAFE HAVEN vanished, Asuna slumped against the pillar of the gate. Then she looked up at me and frowned.
“…What kind of an expression is that?”
“Oh…just that you said the kind of thing that I’d normally say first,” I replied.
She looked at me for a few moments, aghast, then slumped even farther. “You know…I can’t even bring myself to deny that slander. Let’s just go to the inn…”
“Good idea,” I said, checking out the main street, which was much quieter now.
If we’d proceeded through the abduction event as it was meant to go, without Morte’s interference, we’d have been released in Stachion after a brief scuffle and stayed at the inn over there. Now that we were unexpectedly back in Suribus, we had to deal with the issue of the overbooked inn rooms that Argo warned us about.
“Uh…well…I don’t think we’re going to find two single rooms side by side…” I suggested warily.
Asuna blinked blearily at me and mumbled, “A two-bedroom suite is fine…That was the original idea, remember?”
That was, indeed, what we discussed, but it was mostly to protect against PK attacks, and now that Morte’s group wasn’t likely to strike again for a while, it didn’t seem necessary for the next day or two. On the other hand, the man in the black poncho who was their ringleader didn’t make an appearance this time, and the only lasting damage we did to them was mental and material, so there was no guarantee they wouldn’t come back as soon as tonight.
“Got it. In that case…I think there was a good spot on the left bank of the river. Let’s try that one,” I suggested. Asuna mumbled an affirmative and stood up unsteadily. She reached out toward me, causing me brief panic when I thought she wanted to hold my hand. Instead, she grabbed the end of my belt, which stuck out of my coat.
So with Asuna on autopilot and allowing me to chauffer her around, I took us to a four-story building close to the north gate. It was an above-average inn for Suribus, and on top of it, all the rooms had balconies facing the river, giving it the best view in town.
The Jade and Kingfisher was about 80 percent full, probably because of its unassuming signage, and if we didn’t care about being adjacent, we could’ve taken two single rooms. But Asuna, who was still clutching my belt, ordered the deluxe suite room without a moment of deliberation.
My partner seemed to be completely out of batteries. I pushed her up the stairs and opened the puzzle-free door to our room. A huge window straight ahead showed us the night view of Suribus. If we went on the balcony, we’d see the lights of the town reflecting on the river below, but Asuna just staggered into the center of the living room and glanced at the bedroom doors on opposite walls.
“…I’ll take this one. Good night…” she said, yawning, and vanished into the room on the left. I heard the sound of her equipment being removed—and then silence.
I snuck up to the open door and saw Asuna, still in her regular clothes, facedown on the spacious bed. After a few seconds of hesitation, I entered the room and grabbed the edge of the sheet cover beneath her.
I very carefully pulled it to roll Asuna over—she was already fast asleep—so that she was faceup atop the sheets and pillows. Then I laid the blanket back over her, whispered “Good night,” and left the room. After a moment, I decided to leave her door open.
Back in the living room, I exhaled.
It was, indeed, a deluxe accommodation. There was a very fancy set of furniture in the middle of the room, with a basket of fruit on the table between the sofas. I picked up a fruit that had the shape of a kiwi and color of a strawberry and took a bite. It had the texture of a banana, with a pineapple flavor.
As I ate, I reflected on the past.
When we stayed at a deluxe room in Zumfut on the third floor, there was a fruit basket there, too. I recalled Asuna hurling a fruit that tasted like a mix of apple, pear, and lychee at me—but even though it was only two weeks ago, I couldn’t remember why she had done it.
And yet, I could distinctly recall the conversation we’d had there.
If I’m ever more of a hindrance than a help, you’d better tell me, Asuna had said as we were lying down on adjacent beds. Her reason for leaving the Town of Beginnings was so that she could be herself…not so she could have me protect her.
Since that day, Asuna had worked tirelessly to continue proving that statement true. She absorbed a massive amount of information about how the game worked, she got better at fighting, and she even got over her fear of dueling other players. All I taught her at the dark elf camp this morning were a few technical pointers and some tips about mind-set, and tonight she’d held her own against Morte’s partner. If I was going to beat her in a duel at this point, I couldn’t win with fundamental abilities alone. I’d need to use some kind of higher-level trick.
So worrying endlessly about exposing Asuna to danger was, in a way, an insult to her. But this knowledge didn’t help me stop blaming myself.
I finished the fruit and opened up my inventory, scrolling through the items in order of acquisition until I spotted the name NAMNEPENTH’S POISON JAR (0). This was the little container of poison gas that had paralyzed Asuna and me, as well as saved us from danger, though it was now empty. I tapped the name and moved it to the head of my item list, fixing its location through a submenu. This way, I’d see the name every time I opened my inventory and be reminded of my bitter mistake.
In Aincrad, poison—especially the paralyzing kind—was an incredibly powerful weapon. Monster paralysis attacks could be avoided with knowledge and experience, but it was almost impossible to perfectly defend oneself against a malicious and clever player armed with it. If we continued fighting against this PK gang, they’d almost certainly put us in danger with paralyzing poison again. But at the very least, I wasn’t going to let Asuna be exposed to that danger a second time. Never again.
I closed my window and started to reach for the button to remove all my equipment, but I thought better of it and physically removed my sword and sheath from my back. I drew the sword slowly to avoid making any noise and let the lamplight hit the flat of the blade. Despite the furious battle against Morte and the following slaughter of the muriquis, the thin Sword of Eventide shone as brilliant and clear as a mirror.
When I had executed Rage Spike at the center of Morte’s che
st, the sword had curled and twisted like a living object to pierce his heart—his critical point.
My two upgrades to Accuracy at the dark elf camp had kicked in and auto-aimed it…that was all. But in that moment, and the moment when it hit the core of the Annoying Wraith, the correction process felt very much like the will of the weapon itself. It wasn’t that the sword was adjusting its path toward the weak point I was trying to hit, it was like the sword itself had spotted the point of least resistance and wanted to slice that exact target.
…I’m overthinking this. It only feels weird because I’ve never used a weapon with an Accuracy upgrade on it before. Plus, it was a good thing it hit Morte in the heart and put the fear of a one-hit kill in him. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have picked up and run away like that.
I ran my fingers along the flat of the blade, then returned it to its sheath. This time, I hit the UNEQUIP button, and it vanished into my inventory, along with the coat.
Now that I was lighter, I glanced back at Asuna’s room, thought for a moment, then entered the bedroom on the right. I pulled the top blanket off the bed and returned to the living room. I lay down on the sofa, which was slightly hard, and wrapped myself in the blanket. If I slept there, that put me in a slightly better position, just in case someone found a way to slip through the system and get into our room.
Asuna and I were equal partners, so acting like it was my duty to provide all the protection was pure arrogance. Still, if there was something I could do, I wanted to do it. I was sure that Asuna was watching over me in the same way, in some form I didn’t even realize.
I tapped the table to bring up the room menu and turned out the lights. Closing my eyes, I thought I heard faint breathing from the other room through the blue-black darkness.
I whispered good night to her and felt my mind sinking somewhere very, very deep.
5
JANUARY 2, 2023.
Unlike yesterday, the morning sky was gloomy and dark—though only visible through the strip of the outer aperture, of course. Our day’s activities started with a bit of inventory housekeeping.
After we ate breakfast at the inn’s restaurant, we returned to the fourth-floor suite and materialized the items earned over the previous day onto the table. The majority of items were materials of uncertain use dropped by the muriquis, like Spider Monkey Pelts and Fluffy Tails, but the real problem was what the late Cylon had dropped. The gold and jewels had been picked up by the Muriqui Snatchers before we retrieved them, so they were mixed among our cash now, but we weren’t really sure if it was right to use or sell off the equipable items he’d dropped.
“…I wonder if Cylon has any family,” Asuna murmured, lifting up a gaudy golden pendant.
I shook my head. “No…I don’t recall there being a wife or children in that mansion of his.”
“I see…But the bigger question is: Does this mean Cylon’s just gone from Aincrad forever? Wouldn’t that mean nobody else can start the ‘Curse of Stachion’ quest…?”
Again, I shook my head. “No…I doubt it’ll come to that. My guess is that when he showed up at the hideout in Suribus, there was already a different Cylon back at the mansion in Stachion. The one that Morte killed was just ‘our’ Cylon. I bet that it won’t have any effect on other players who are going to start the quest after us.”
Asuna pressed her fingers to her left temple and groaned, “Ugh…I just can’t wrap my head around that idea. The instanced maps are hard enough, but having the same person in multiple places at once is just…”
“I know how you feel,” I said with a laugh. I poured the pitcher of lemonade-ish juice into two glasses and gave one to her. I took a sip of the sugary liquid and continued, “During the ‘Elf War’ quest on the third floor, I’m pretty sure I mentioned how, in order to get the Anneal Blade on the first floor, you have to do a quest to gather medicinal ingredients from the forest for a sick girl. When she drinks the finished potion, she gets better, but only while you’re in their cabin. Once another player enters the place to start the quest, they’ll just see a sickly, suffering girl again. It’s unavoidable, you see…People would be losing their minds if only the single earliest party could ever fulfill a certain quest. Still, there’s just something jarring about it…”
“…Yeah, I know…”
Asuna took a sip of her juice, too. She puckered her lips, then sighed.
“…I feel like Cylon was in pain, too, deep down. He was Pithagrus’s first apprentice, but his master said he couldn’t inherit the title, so he got mad and killed him and then had to bear that secret for an entire decade, right? Plus, someone made off with the golden cube that had his bloody handprint on it, so he knew at least one person was aware of the truth…I have to believe that he was on edge for all ten of those years.”
She was conjecturing as though Cylon were a real person.
As an NPC, I doubted he would feel any guilt at all because he wasn’t programmed to. But thinking about it…Unlike in the beta, the current version of Aincrad featured multiple NPCs that had so much intelligence and emotion, they were almost indistinguishable from people. Kizmel, Viscount Yofilis…and perhaps Cylon, too.
Asuna leaned back against the sofa, exhaled, then continued, “I thought…that maybe at the end of the quest, Cylon would repent for his crime and accept his punishment…and perhaps even find forgiveness…but so much for that. Hey, Kirito.”
“Hmm?”
“If we go back to Stachion, and we actually meet another Cylon in the mansion there, the quest won’t actually continue where we left off, right?”
“No…I don’t think it will. We didn’t actually finish that crucial event, for one thing. I bet the quest log is still stuck partway through that…”
I had my inventory window open already, so I switched it to the quest tab and tapped on the ‘Curse of Stachion’ entry to make it the active quest. The final line of the quest read…
“Let’s see…CYLON, LORD OF STACHION, HAS BEEN KILLED BY BANDITS. YOU MUST FIND THE PROPER PLACE TO USE THE TWO REMAINING KEYS.”
We stared at each other in silence. Then we both looked down at the table. Among the various articles there were two keys, one made of gold and one of iron.
“Wh-wha…? Hang on, was Cylon getting killed part of the story of this quest…?” Asuna asked, but I shook my head several times.
“N-no, that’s not possible. Morte and his buddy weren’t NPCs, they were other players. It says they’re bandits, but it’s not like the SAO system was controlling them and making them do that.”
“Then why does the quest log say that?”
“Um…ummmm…The only thing I can think of is that they considered the possibility that Cylon might be killed by another player when the event goes in between towns and prepared that message…maybe…?”
“Really?” she said, giving me a look of disbelief. “If they were going to go to that much trouble, couldn’t they just make Cylon so super-tough that nobody could kill him?”
“Well, that’s true…but then you’d have to wonder why someone who wasn’t a fighter would be so strong, right? That’s the kind of thing that SAO is really picky about…”
“True. I mean, they go to the lengths of printing the entire contents of all the books in the world, even if we can’t read them,” Asuna admitted. She put her glass of lemonade on the table and picked up both gold and iron keys. “This golden key is the one we found at the hideout, right? So…where do we use this iron key?”
“Dunno…The golden key goes to the dungeon underneath the lord’s mansion, but I’ve never actually seen the iron one before…”
“Dungeon…? Is that where you find the golden cube?”
I wasn’t sure if I should answer that question or not, but then I decided that since we’d already completely branched off the story line I was familiar with, it couldn’t hurt, after all.
“Yeah,” I admitted, “the one who took the cube from the site of Pithagrus’s murder and hid it beneath the
mansion was the former maid we talked to first. Her name was…Theano, I think. She was actually a puzzle genius herself, and Pithagrus wanted to make her his heir to the title.”
“Oh, really…? But Theano saw Cylon murder Pithagrus, right? Why did she hide the murder weapon, rather than accusing him as a witness?”
“See, the thing is, Cylon and Theano were lovers.”
“Oh, my…ooh, aah,” Asuna murmured as she took this in, gazing at the keys in her hands. “Ten years ago…Cylon would be in his late thirties, and Theano would’ve been around twenty-five, I think. So maybe she didn’t feel like accusing her lover of murder, but her conscience didn’t allow her to stand by and do nothing…”
“That’s about how it went, I think. Theano locked the golden cube beneath the lord’s mansion, then placed the key to it in the hideout in Suribus. She wanted Cylon to admit to his sin and atone for it.”
“…What do you mean?”
“The dungeon under the mansion is a string of super-hard puzzles, and you can’t even get to the last part without a hint from one of the books in the study of the hideout. For ten years, Theano waited for Cylon to admit to his crime and seek her help. She was going to tell him the location of the second home if he did. In order to get back the golden cube, Cylon would need to study the books in the hideout as hard as he could and solve the puzzle dungeon. And in fact, that’s the test that’s meant to determine if you’ve got what it takes to inherit the title of puzzle king and lord of the mansion.”
“Aha…but Cylon didn’t attempt the test himself, he just kept hiring people to do it…”
“And paralyzing and abducting the people he hired, to boot,” I noted.
Asuna let out a long breath. “If Morte hadn’t interfered…what would’ve happened to us?”
“Cylon was going to lock us in the mansion dungeon to make us retrieve the cube for him. But Theano found out, and she would help us in the backstreets of Stachion, and from that point on, we’d work with her on the quest, in the main route…”
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