SAO 15 - Alicization Invading by Reki Kawahara

  “Could that…”

  The moment she was about to return for her sword, having thought it could be a darkness knight from the Dark Territory who crossed the mountain range at the edge, she saw the dragon’s scales gleam silver in the moonlight. She lessened the tension in her shoulders slightly. The integrity knights of the Axiom Church were the only ones to ride flying dragons with silver scales even if one were to search the world over.

  That said, it was still too early to be relieved. Exactly who would fly to a region this remote, and for what reason? Could it be that the debate regarding the execution of the traitor, Kirito, continued even throughout this half year and that the cathedral had finally dispatched someone to do the deed?

  Perhaps sensing Alice’s tension, Amayori crept out from her bed before lifting her head up high and crying out once more. However, her menacing, deep tone soon faded away, replaced by a coy, high-pitched kyuun.

  Alice, too, knew why straight away.

  The flying dragon that landed on the southern part of the meadow after circling another three times had fuzz in a shade much like Amayori’s growing around its neck. That could only be Amayori’s elder brother, a dragon named Takiguri. In other words, the one riding on him was—

  Alice called out in a stiff tone towards the knight clad in full silver armor who landed on the ground in an elegant motion.

  “…To think you would find out about this place. What business do you have here, Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-one?”

  The one and only integrity knight possessing a number younger than Alice, who was thirty, did not speak immediately and instead, first gave a deep bow with his right hand on his chest.

  Straightening his body, he slowly removed his helmet. His lustrous light purple hair fluttered in the night wind and his good looks with a sense of urban flamboyance were revealed. With his high, smooth voice, rare for a man—

  “It has been a while, my master, Alice-sama. Your beauty has not faded despite this change in dressing. I could not help but to make haste to meet with you, master, with a bottle of alcohol from my cherished collection upon imagining the bewitching splendor your golden locks would have under this evening’s glorious moon.”

  The left hand held behind his back darted forward and in it was a bottle of wine.

  Alice held back a sigh as she answered the man who apparently regarded her as his master.

  “…I am truly glad your wounds have healed, but I see your personality is as it had always been. I have only just noticed, but your manner of speech is slightly similar to Chief Elder Chudelkin’s.”

  Turning her back to Eldrie who let out a mild ugh, she proceeded towards the cabin.

  “E-Erm, Alice-sama…”

  “I will hear you out inside if it is important. If it is not, down the wine on your own and return to the central capital.”

  Alice gave a glance at the siblings reunited after half a year, Takiguri and Amayori, who were happily nuzzling each other’s heads, then returned to the cabin fast.

  Eldrie, who docilely followed along, scanned through the narrow cabin with curious eyes before his gaze fixated on Kirito looking downwards beside the stove. However, he mentioned nothing about the rebel with whom he had once crossed swords with and swiftly slipped to the table and pulled a chair for Alice.

  “……”

  It seemed ludicrous to thank him, so she sighed instead and sat straight down. Eldrie sat opposite Alice without asking and placed the wine bottle on the table. His face clouded over the moment their gazes met straight on, likely spotting the black bandage still covering Alice’s right eye. That expression soon vanished, however, with Eldrie’s nose twitching as he raised his face.

  “…There seems to be some aroma here, Alice-sama. On another note, I have yet to take dinner due to this trip I undertook in haste.”

  “On another note? In the first place, what would spur you to bring wine instead of rations when flying to this remote region from the central capital?”

  “I swore to the three goddesses that I will never have that dried, squirmy thing in this life. If I have to satisfy my stomach with that, I would rather starve and give my Life up…”

  Alice stood from the chair without listening to Eldrie’s absurd excuses to the end. Moving to the kitchen, she served the leftover stew from the metal pot on the stove into a wooden plate and returned to the table.

  Eldrie stared at the bowl placed before his eyes with a mixture of delight and suspicion.

  “……Excuse my abrupt question, but could this possibly made by your hand, Alice-sama…?”

  “Why, yes, it is. What about it?”

  “……No. I am merely overjoyed by this day, in which I could partake in cooking made by my master; more so than being endowed with some hidden sword stance.”

  Holding the spoon with a nervous expression, he brought beans to his mouth.

  Alice asked once again towards Eldrie whose mouth moved as he chewed.

  “And so, how did you find this place? No art could reach this far from the central capital… and I hardly believe the Order could dispatch flying dragons to every area in search of me alone in its current situation.”

  Eldrie gave no reply for a moment, murmuring comments such as “so it’s not that bad, after all” as he energetically moved the spoon, but eventually raised his face from the now-emptied plate, then wiped his mouth with a handkerchief he took out from one place or another before looking straight towards Alice.

  “I came, following the bonds of fate linking us, Alice-sama… or so I would like to say, but unfortunately, this was an utter coincidence.”

  His right hand flashed open in a pompous gesture.

  “Reports that the goblins and orcs were sneaking about of late came from the knights going about the mountain range at the edge. The caves in the north, south, and west were all destroyed under the knight commander’s command, but as there was still the possibility of them stubbornly digging through, I came to confirm the issue.”

  “…The caves…?”

  Alice’s knitted her eyebrows.

  Among the four passages passing through the mountain range at the edge, the caves in the south, the west, and the one exceeding close to Rulid Village, the north, were rather narrow, denying access to the orcs and giants who formed the bulk of the darkness forces. As such, she anticipated the enemy army would gather at the «Great east Gate», but Knight Commander Bercouli had collapsed those three caves immediately upon assuming command as insurance.

  That was precisely why Alice built this secret home on this land, but the situation would change if the enemy were to dig through the cave. Rulid Village would flip from a peaceful remote region to the front lines where battle would first break out.

  “And so… did you confirm the movements of the darkness forces?”

  “Though I flew around the cave for an entire day, I saw not even a single goblin, let alone an orc.”

  Eldrie lightly shrugged and continued.

  “Perhaps they mistook a pack of beasts for military forces.”

  “…Did you check inside the cave?”

  “Naturally. I peeked in from the Dark Territory’s side, but it was buried in rocks up to the ceiling. They would probably need a large force to dig through that. …Then Takiguri strangely kicked up a fuss when I pulled on the reins to return to the central capital. I left the flying to him and he descended straight towards here. Honestly, I am just as shocked. It’s a huge coincidence… no, maybe it was the guiding hand of fate after all.”

  Having left his flowery language behind some time ago, Eldrie showed the resolute face of a knight and continued.

  “I am obligated to report that I had come across this opportunity for an audience with you on this particular occasion. Alice-sama… please return to the Order! Rather than the assistance of a thousand men, what we need now is your sword!!”

  Alice slowly turned down her eye as though avoiding the knight’s forceful gaze.

  She knew.


  She knew the crackling of the brittle wall shielding the Human World crumbling away. And of the hardships Knight Commander Bercouli and the newly-formed Defense Army suffer as they propped it up.

  Alice could never repay her debt to the knight commander for his protection and guidance, and she had yet to lose her sense of unity with those in the Order of the Integrity Knights, including Eldrie. That said, that was insufficient to spur her to battle.

  Strength is the might of one’s will. Alice realized that truth through the battle at the cathedral. If willpower could allow one to overturn a devastating difference in battle potential, like Kirito back then, then it could dull the strongest sacred tool too—

  “…I cannot.”

  Alice softly replied.

  Eldrie’s sharp voice rang out at once.

  “Why.”

  Without waiting for a reply, his sight, keen like a whip, turned to the young man sitting on the chair next to the stove.

  “Is it for that man? Is your heart still led astray, Alice-sama, by that man who broke out of the cathedral’s jail and turned his treacherous blade on many knights, the chief elder, and even the Esteemed Highest Minister? If that is so, I shall cut off the source of your hesitation for you this very moment.”

  Alice’s one eye glared at Eldrie as he put strength into his right hand holding onto the table’s end.

  “Stop it!”

  Though that single line was at a suppressed volume, the knight still straightened up his upper body with a start upon hearing it.

  “He, too, only fought for the justice he believes in. Otherwise, how could he defeat all of us integrity knights, who are supposed to be the strongest, and even the knight deputy commander? You should know the weight behind his sword as well, having crossed swords firsthand.”

  Even as wrinkles came together near his high nose bridge, Eldrie slowly released the strength in his shoulders. He lowered his gaze to the table while murmuring to himself.

  “…Certainly, I, too, find it hard to accept Administrator-sama’s plan of changing half of the people into soulless soldiers with bones of swords. And without that youth… Kirito and his friend, Eugeo, it is unlikely anyone would stop that plan from being realized. Not to mention that if it is as Bercouli-dono said, that the one who guided that pair truly stood on a par with Administrator-sama once, as another highest minister, Cardinal-sama, I would hardly wish to point out Kirito’s crimes. However… if that is so, I find it even harder to swallow!!”

  As though pouring out what he had always kept suppressed in his breast, Eldrie shouted.

  “If the skills of the rebel, Kirito, overwhelm even those of us integrity knights as you have mentioned, Alice-sama, why does he not take up his sword and fight?! Why was he reduced to such a miserable state and continues to anchor you down to this remote region?! If he murdered Administrator-sama in order to protect the masses, then should he not be rushing to the Great East Gate this very moment?!!”

  Eldrie’s words, as though spewing out fire, showed no sign of reaching Kirito’s heart either. His half-closed eyes reflected no more than the light from the wavering embers in the stove.

  The heavy, lasting silence that descended was punctured by Alice’s calm voice.

  “…I am sorry, Eldrie. I am incapable of going with you, after all. It has nothing to do with Kirito’s status… I have merely lost the strength to wield my sword. I doubt I could even get a point if I were to cross swords with you now.”

  Eldrie’s two eyes flashed open as though he was taken aback. The prideful knight’s face contorted like that of a young boy.

  That face showed a smile bearing resignation in time.

  “…I see. Then I have nothing more to say…”

  Slowly stretching out his right hand, he started muttering a sacred art. The following quick incantation created two crystal elements and changed their forms into that of extremely thin wine glasses.

  Picking the wine bottle up from the table, he flicked the tough cork off with just his fingertip. He poured a little of the crimson red fluid into both glasses from the bottle before putting it down.

  “…If I had known we would be bidding each other farewell with this wine, I would have brought along one that was aged for two hundred years old from the East Empire in my collection.”

  Eldrie lifted one of the glasses, downed it in one go, and then gently returned it to the table. He took a bow and stood up, his pure white mantle billowing.

  “I bid you farewell here, master. Your guidance on my sword and arts shall remain unforgotten as long as this Eldrie lives.”

  “…All the best. I pray you stay safe.”

  Lightly nodding back towards Alice who managed to get those words through her mouth somehow, the integrity knight scraped his boots against the floor as he walked away. Alice could not help but to avert her eyes from his back filled with unshakable pride.

  The door opened and closed. A single shrill cry came from Takiguri on the front yard, followed by the sound of flapping wings. Amayori’s voice, nasal from her reluctance to part with her brother, pricked Alice’s breast.

  Though the strong flapping vanished into the distance before long, Alice continued sitting without stirring.

  Right before the Life of the glasses made from crystal elements expired, she gently lifted one to her lips with her fingertips. The first wine she tasted in this half year left an aftertaste more bitter and sour than sweet on her tongue. The two empty glasses scattered into pale light as they disintegrated seconds later.

  She pushed the cork back into the bottle, yet to be emptied, and stood up. Moving to the stove, she called out towards Kirito who still sat in silence.

  “…I am sorry, you must be tired. It is long past the usual bedtime, after all. Now, let us go to bed.”

  Gently tapping his shoulders with her hands to make him stand, she then guided him to the connecting bedroom. She changed his black robe to his undyed sleepwear before laying him on the bed at the window.

  Even upon bringing up the folded blanket at her feet and covering him up to his neck with it, Kirito’s eyes remained half-open, still staring at the ceiling unblinkingly.

  The room was filled with a pale blue darkness after she blew out the lamp on the wall. She sat down beside Kirito and softly caressed his emaciated chest and bony shoulders for several minutes; his eyelids fell only then, as though some source of power he had was cut off.

  She waited until the sleeping Kirito’s breathing stabilized before leaving the bed and changing into white sleepwear herself. Returning to the living room, she checked on Amayori from the window, then extinguished the two lamps and went back to the bedroom.

  She lifted the blanket on the bed and slipped in beside Kirito as his faint warmth enveloped her body.

  Though closing her eye would have usually allowed her to flee into her sleep without delay, her drowsiness seemed mostly absent today.

  The blinding white of the mantle whipping on Eldrie’s back as he left remained imprinted on the insides of her eyelids, stinging her eyes.

  That same pride should have filled her own back in those days. That unshakable resolve surging through her body as energy for protecting the Human World, its inhabitants, and the Axiom Church’s authority with her sword.