“—I avoided police surveillance and went to Nagano alone. I spent 3 days searching for the mountain villa through my memories, and before I knew it, I was completely covered in mud...however, I worked so hard not to become his accomplice. I...wanted to kill Kayaba-kun.”
And just like the first time they met, Kayaba never showed a single doubt on his face when he welcomed Rinko. She could not forget the heavy and icy feeling of the knife she held behind her.
“But...I'm sorry, Asuna-san. I couldn't kill him.”
She could not restrain her voice from trembling, however, as she merely tried to hold back her tears.
“I definitely couldn't not lie about that incident again. Kayaba-kun knew that I had a knife and merely said 'such a troublesome person' like usual , put on the Nerve Gear again and returned to Aincrad. During that long dive, he never cared about the long beard that grew on him, and there were many bits of stuff on his arms. I...I just...”
Rinko could not say anything again as she continued to adjust her breathing.
Finally, she calmed down. Asuna said,
“Kirito-kun and I never blamed you, Rinko-san.”
The girl who was 10 years younger suddenly lifted her head, showing a vague smile as she stared at Rinko.
“...About that...I might not be the same as Kirito-kun, but I do hate the guild leader...Kayaba Akihiko a lot, and I haven't settled things with him.”
Rinko remembered that Asuna belonged to the guild Kayaba created in that world.
“It's true that the incident caused the death of 4,000 people. If I imagined...how much despair and fear they had when they died, I definitely can't forgive the guild leader's crime. However...it's a selfish way of putting it, but it's likely that during the short time I lived in that world with Kirito-kun, that might be the best memory in my life at this point.”
Asuna moved her left hand and made a move, looking like she was about to hold onto something near her waist.
“And just as the guild leader is guilty, I am guilty, Kirito-kun is guilty, and you are guilty too, Rinko-san... However, I feel that nobody can compensate for it with their punishment. Most likely, we might never see that day of redemption, but even so, we have to continue to face our guilt.”
That night, Rinko dreamt of a long-forgotten time—her time as a student, when she did not know anything.
The light sleeper Kayaba would always wake up earlier than Rinko, drinking coffee and reading the newspapers. Rinko would always wake up when the sun rose completely, and he would smile wryly like he was treating a sleepy child, and would say, good morning.
“Really, you're such a troublesome person, coming to a place like this.”
The heavy voice caused Rinko to widen her eyes slightly. She realised that there was a long and tall figure in the midst of the darkness.
“It's still night...”
Rinko again closed her eyes as she smiled and muttered. The air flowed slightly, and the hard footsteps moved away. Then, she heard the sound of the door opening and closing.
She was about to again enter a deep sleep, but right before that—
“—!!”
Rinko gave a deep sigh as she got up. The comfortable feeling immediately vanished, and her heart was wailing loudly like an alarm clock wailing. She could not tell which was dreamland or reality for a moment. She searched around for the remote and switched the lights in the room on.
There was no one in the windowless cabin. However, Rinko felt that there was the faint remaining odor of someone floating in the air.
She got up from the bed and walked towards the door barefooted. She anxiously pressed the operation panel, unlocked the door and walked onto the passage through the gap as the door slid open.
There was no one in the inside passage that was lit by faint orange lights, whether it was left, right or anywhere she could see.
A dream...?
She thought so, but there was that ringing voice of that software deep inside her ear. Rinko subconsciously held the rocket pendant that she always had with her.
What was inside it, that was welded and could not be opened again, was the miniature bomb that was sealed right above Rinko's heart. The pendant seemed to give off its own heat as it scalded her palm.
Chapter 3 - Zakkaria Sword Arts Tournament (8th Month of Human World Calendar 378)
Part 1
—Such inexplicable boys.
Looking down at the innocent sleeping faces from the high beam above, it made such a thought unwittingly.
Two boys were using the very sturdy dried straw piled up in the very old warehouse as beds, sleeping soundly. Appearance wise, they did not look too weird. The boy, who was lying horizontally as he slept, had flaxen colored hair, and his eyes that were shut now were deep green in color. Either way, it should be a color that could be seen everywhere in the area NNM... «Norlangarth Northern Middle». The height and physique were all within the average for boys at this age.
In contrast, the boy lying on the left with his limbs spread open had pitch black hair and eyes, and that was a rare sight. The chances of seeing dark colors was more common in the East area and the South, and the chances of giving birth to a child with black eyes and hair in the Northern region was rather rare, even though one could not say that there was no chance at all. As the entire population of the Human Empire had grown to such an extent, it may be possible for such an instance to occur. His physique was identical to the boy beside him, as if they were twins.
163 days ago, it was ordered by the «Master» to directly observe the duo. It arrived all the way here from Central Centoria, and was somewhat disappointed. Whether it was appearance or verbalism, they were not much different from those of the same area and age, but it felt that their planning and ability to avoid danger under dangerous circumstances were below average.
It had been half a year since it followed the duo, taking care not to be noticed.
The rainy season passed, and just when the summer was about to pass, it gradually understood why the «Master» fancied those two.
The lack of planning and abiding the rules was merely a display of inquisitiveness and seeking. Also, the black haired boy's imagination and mobility was shocking even to him, who had lived in this world for more than 200 years. Ever since it started watching them, there were many times where it was worried that the boy would break the Taboo Index.
On thinking through it carefully— that should not be the case. He probably should not be able to do such things. He did things similar to what [it] who the «Master» viewed as an archenemy did, destroying the permanent boundaries scattered all over the world in several days...
At this moment, the black-haired boy who was sleeping started moving his limbs as if he saw something. The shirt that acted as pajamas flipped up, and one could only sigh at the sight of him starting to move again without caring that his navel was exposed.
Summer was over, and the night wind was rather cold in this area that could be considered the northern Norlandgarth area. There were many openings in this warehouse, and if he continued to sleep on the straw bed with his navel exposed, the chances of his «Life» getting a slight illness would be very high. The next day— Human World Calendar 378, August 28th could be said to be the biggest hurdle in their journey up till now.
They should have earned enough money by working in this farm for an entire summer, and though it wanted to tell them many times to at least sleep in an inn in the town, it could not interact with them directly. As it felt anxious observing them, both of them continued to sleep in such a simple warehouse—
And in the end, it ended up like this.
...It can't be helped. If I interfere like this, «Master» will forgive me, definitely.
It stood on the high beam and waved its right hand. A spell was muttered, the fingertip let out a green light, forming a ray of «Wind Element».
It cautiously let the «Wind Element» fall beside the black-haired boy, 30 cen towards the dry straw, and s
teadily «released» it.
A slight breeze was created, whirling up a pile of straw that slowly covered the boy's exposed navel. It was not reliable as a blanket, but it should be enough to cover the cold air blowing through the gaps.
It put its hand down and continued to stare at the two boys who did not notice what was going on before starting to consider what to do next.
The Life was permanently frozen, and the magic caster that was a «Master» had been taking similar missions for almost 200 years. However, it never had any memories of being interested in the observed parties. However, it should be a function that was without «emotion». This body was not that of a human... Or rather, not a main Human Unit in this «Underworld».
Even if it could have predicted that the boy would get a cold right before this important trial, the problem was why it did not ignore this, but used a spell to interfere. Or rather, if his body collapsed, if the spell failed, its long mission to observe would be over, and it could return back to the corner of that large library it missed...
In other words... instead of going home, would its journey with the duo end just like this?
Impossible. This is too illogical. It's like I'm influenced by both of their irregular movement.
I can't continue to think. This isn't part of the mission. All I need is to do is to follow and observe both of them. I have to observe these two people— the flaxen-haired boy Eugeo and the black-haired boy Kirito, move to their destination.
It curled its body back to 5 mil and leaped off the beam. It would not exhaust Life with such a small body, and it would not need to use spells. It landed like settling straw, and silently moved its slender legs to their usual position— the somewhat long black hair of the boy called Kirito.
It fastened its body on the numerous hair strands that were of the same color as it, and for some reason, chided itself for its small body.
The peacefulness, comfort, assurance; amidst all these, there was some sort of intense emotions amongst them all... And it could not think of why it was feeling this way.
—Such inexplicable boys.
It again had this thought, closed its eyes, and went into a light sleep.
[Part 2
The next day was the last day of August, and the morning was extremely clear.
Kirito stretched his back and opened his eyes. He looked rather shocked as he grabbed a pile of straw that was lying on him, but he immediately sat up at a very fast speed. He shook his head to wake himself up, and the observer that was hiding in his hair reached its arms and legs out.
It moved near the bottom of the strands of black hair and moves towards the fringe of his hair. This was its designated spot for observation in the door. As Kirito would occasionally scratch his head, it would have to be careful. A frozen Life merely meant that it would not decrease naturally due to old age, and Life would be used up when the body got damaged. However, the maximum value of its Life was a lot larger than humans, and even after shrinking, its toughness was nearly preserved fully, so those sudden hits or whatsoever were still bearable.
Kirito did not detect the malt-grain sized observer that was hiding in his hair and slid off the pile of straw. He put his hand on the shoulder of his sleeping partner.
“Oi Eugeo. Wake up. It's morning.”
The somewhat violent shaking caused the boy's eyebrows that were of the same color as his hair to jerk slightly while he opened his eyes a crack wide. The green eyes were dazed for a short moment, but after blinking hard a few times, he seemed to grimace as he narrowed his eyes.
“...Morning, Kirito. You're still the same as usual, waking up so early daily.”
“It should be the other way around. I say. Wake up, wake up! We have to finish what we have to do in the morning; let's have a «style» training before we have breakfast. I still don't understand the 7th «Style» somewhat.”
“That's why I had been saying to practice your «styles» besides just carrying out mock battles... I really can't believe you, trying to pull an all-nighter on the morning of the tournament... No, it's a little weird to say that in the morning. Well...”
“Forget about pulling an all-morning or all-nighter or something, we only have this one time.”
Kirito said some vague words as he forcefully dragged Eugeo, carried the straw he used as a bed for several seconds and moved it to the large wooden barrel at the wall. He raised the wooden barrel that was filled with straw and headed towards the exit.
The moment he walked out of the warehouse, the light of the recently dawned sun entered his eyes. The observer backed itself away and hid itself in the hut of black hair. Perhaps it was a little too used to the dark corner of the large library as it did not seem to be too receptive to the sunlight. However, Kirito happily took a breath of morning air and said this to no one in particular.
“The morning air's so cooling. It's great that I didn't get a cold on such a crucial day.”
And you have the nerve to say so. I won't help you if you sleep with your navel exposed. The observer could not help but exclaim in its heart, and Eugeo, who moved behind Kirito, said,
“We're going to get sick of sleeping on the warehouse straw sooner or later. How about we spend our lodging fees to sleep in the main house starting tomorrow?”
“Nope, there's no need.”
Kirito grinned —of course, it was impossible to see the face of the owner from the base of the scalp, but one could deduce that it was a mischievous grin— as he simply said,
“Because, starting tonight, we're going to live in the Zakkaria Barracks.”
“...Please tell me where that confidence of yours came from. Seriously...”
Yare yare.[1] Eugeo shook his head as he carried a large barrel that was filled with straw, just as Kirito did. Both of them looked rather relaxed, but the weight of this 1-mel diameter sturdy wooden barrel would be pretty shocking even if it were filled fully with straw. An ordinary young man of similar age would probably take only a maximum of 20 steps while carrying this barrel.
As for why the two skinny looking people were not sweating, the reason was that their «Object Control Authority» were ridiculously high. They could both wield that longsword that was lying at the wall of the warehouse— the Class 45 «Divine Instrument» level object, nearly at will.
Then, why would these two seemingly ordinary looking young men, who lived in the countryside, have such great Authority? It had been half a year since it started observing them, and it still did not understand. However, it could at least say that ordinary training or matches up till now alone would not be able to give that value. It would be possible if they were to fight high class wild monsters, but the monsters that were allocated around the village should have been hunted till near extinction. More importantly, those two did not have «Hunter» as their Sacred Task, and if they hunted more wild monsters than what was permitted, they would have broken two clauses on the Taboo Index. If the highly active and energetic Kirito could not do it, it would be impossible to talk about the loyal and honest Eugeo—
There was one possibility left; that they defeated an enemy that would grant an increase in Authority even wild monsters could not match... an «Intruder from the Dark Territory». But on the other hand, this was something that could not be done. Both of them were not guards, and it would be impossible for them to face the Dark Army. Also, the Dark knights who would regularly arrive, the goblin scouts should have been sent packing by the Integrity Knights that were sent over from the Capital Centoria to the Mountain Range at the Edge.
If there was an unexpected «invasion» near Kirito's village... there would be a greater concern as compared to their abnormal growth. That may become a foreboding. That may become a «Prophesized Moment» that was to come one day, yet was thought to happen much later...
As it hid itself in the black hair and pondered about these, both young men had moved the barrels that were filled with straw to the stables beside the warehouse. They filled up the feed buckets of the
ten horses fully and took brushes to groom the horses' bodies while they started feeding. This job would be the first thing Kirito and Eugeo had to do in the morning as they live temporary in the «Wilde Farm» on the outskirts of Zakkaria.
After working for a mere 5 months and more, the technique both of them showed in using the comb would make one mistake them for having the Sacred Task «Horse Feeding». Both of them finished grooming the last horse, and all the horses had finished feeding. Then, the 7 o'clock chime came from the Zakkaria Church that was 3 kilolu away. The «Bell of Time-Telling» the Axiom Church built in every village and city could be heard clearly within a radius of 10 kilolu as the sound would not weaken at all, but it would be hard to hear from outside this range. This would be a psychological thought to make sure a Human Unit would not think of moving too far, but it did not seem to be effective on Kirito's group at all.
Both of them used a pail of water to wash their hands and hung the horse brushes on the nail on the pillar. They used their right hands to grab onto the empty barrels, and left the stable. At this moment, an energetic greeting could be heard, seemingly awaiting the duo.
““Good morning, Kirito, Eugeo!””
The owners of the voices overlapped each other completely. They were the 9-year-old twin daughters of the farm owner—Telin and Telulu. Their hair and eyes were reddish-brown, and their shirts and skirt colors were completely identical. The only way to distinguish between them would be the colors of the ribbons on their ponytails. When they introduced themselves, the one with the red ribbon was Telin, and the blue one was Telulu. However, the two mischievous girls would often change their ribbons to make Kirito and Eugeo misidentify them.
“Good morning, Teli...”
Eugeo was about to answer the greeting as per usual, but Kirito stopped him from behind.
“Hold on! It seems a little weird here...”
The girls who heard these looked at each other, and then started laughing,