Sword Art Online - Volume 11 - Chapter 6.3

Part 3

Beyond the door was a space with breadth and depth defying my expectations

"Waaaah!?"

I somersaulted forward through the air thrice while that shameful scream escaped from me. Right after that, I fell on my back on a slightly elastic ground. A huge bounce later, I thumped onto the ground with my rear-end this time round.

Eugeo immediately fell beside me in a similar manner. We both shook our heads countless times and then glanced around the area upon regaining our sense of balance.

".........What?"

Eugeo's unusual utterance was perfectly understandable. We should have just passed through an open door in that rose garden fence. As such, nothing but that maze earlier could have been on its other side.

However, the walls and ceiling surrounding the hallway we now sat at were covered in antiquated wooden boarding with the floor wooden as well. The elasticity I felt when I fell was due to the planks below. Our Lives would have much reduced if it was paved in stone like in the rose garden.

The hallway continued on for another ten meters or so with a warm orange light flickering at its end. Even the surrounding air changed from the chilly and damp night air we felt just a moment ago to one filled with a dry smell reminiscent of timeworn paper.

Just where was this... or so I thought, before I heard a metallic crunch from above, behind me. A tremendously steep staircase came into my sight upon turning around, with a small door and a short human form visible at its top.

I forgot about even my whip-struck chest and arrow-pierced right foot, got up unsteadily and carefully ascended the wooden staircase. The door within my vision should have been formed by a bronze grate before we passed through it, but it was now wooden like the walls and floor. However, in contrast with the antiquated hallway, the door alone was made from brand new plain wood for some reason.

Three steps away from the top, the shadow with its back to us swiftly raised its right hand as a command to me. That hand held an excessively huge bunch of keys made from brass, giving the impression that it had just pulled them from the door's keyhole that was just as large. I believe that metallic noise several seconds ago was this person locking up the door.

"...Erm..."

'Where is this place and who are you?', I noticed the noise the moment I was about to ask that question. The noise of some small and rigid being creeping about, rustling and creaking, on the immediate other side of the locked door. Goosebumps stood up on the skin of my arms.

"...Done found out, huh. This backdoor's buggered out."

The mysterious person murmured, hushed, and waved its right hand once again as if to urge me forward. I reluctantly postponed my question and descended all the way to the hallway yet again. Eugeo was already on his feet when I returned to his side, and upon turning about, that mysterious person was just about to complete the descent.

As there wasn't any sort of illumination aside from the light from the end of the hallway faintly shining this way around us, I couldn't make out much more than a silhouette. A greatly inflated hat upon the head and a magician-like robe covering that small frame. The bunch of keys in its right hand and a staff longer than its own height in the left.

That staff—that magic staff of sorts turned towards us and swung once, as if to urge us on. And simultaneously, a voice.

"Goodness, quit your dilly-dallying and get in! The place's going down with the passage!"

This couldn't be anything but a young girl as I thought, but she somehow exuded more of an aura of solemnity than Azurika-sensei from the Master Swords Academy, and Eugeo and I walked towards the light in a panic. Getting out of the short passage in short order, we exited into a queer location.

It was a considerably wide, square-shaped room. Many lamps were mounted onto the wall, with the warmly-tinted flames flickering away. There was nothing else that could be termed furniture, with only a single thick, wooden door visible on the opposing wall.

More than ten hallways like the one we came through were lined up on the other three walls. Judging from a peek at the one right next to us, I saw a staircase and small door at its end as expected.

As Eugeo and I glanced through our surroundings, the robed girl who followed behind swiveled and raised the staff towards the hallway.

"There."

That cute—or perhaps, elderly yell accompanied a quick wave.

I figured there wouldn't be any more surprises in store, but the next phenomenon dumbfounded us yet again. The wallboards on the left and right were just pushed out one after another from the side furthest from us as they made banging noises, and caused tremors as they joined together, didn't they?

The ten-meter-long hallway was shut away in mere seconds and at the end, only a plain wall remained after the boards that protruded from the top, bottom, left and right met. There was no trace of the hallway there a moment ago, not even a single dent.

Even if it was a sacred art, it had to be a considerably large-scale, high ranking one. A long ceremony recital and a high system access authority should be necessary to move the combined mass of all those objects. The surprising part was that the mysterious girl executed all of that with a single yell going, "There". In the first place, she didn't even utter a single syllable of 'system call'. Not to mention how that phrase had to precede each and every sacred art without exception, according to the academy's teachings.

"Hmph."

The girl made a soft sigh through her nose and upon thrusting the staff into the ground as though she was utterly used to this sort of situation, she finally turned to us.

Taking another look at her in the ample lighting, she appeared to be a young, doll-like, cute girl. The black robe with a velvet-like luster and the large hat made from the same material made her look more like an elderly scholar than a magician, but the chestnut, curly hair peeking from the edges of her hat and that milky skin gave off a youthful radiance.

The girl's most striking feature was her eyes. Those eyes, fringed by long eyelashes, beyond those round glasses daintily worn on her nose were brown like her hair, but they somehow gave an overwhelming presence of knowledge and wisdom. Simply looking at those eyes made one feel as though they were sucked into a depth with no definite end. It was utterly impossible to predict what she was thinking through them.

Anyway— This girl certainly did save us from the integrity knight's assault, so let's express some gratitude, I thought as I lowered my head.

"Err... thanks for saving us."

"I've yet to see if you lot are worth the whole kerfuffle, though."

This must be what it meant to be curt. I had learnt that it was better to leave negotiations with unfamiliar faces to Eugeo from the experiences we had while travelling, so I jabbed him into bearing the brunt of the conversation with my elbow.

Urged forward, Eugeo gave a bow with his hair still wet and then started off with a self-introduction.

"Well... Nice to meet you, my name is Eugeo and this is Kirito. Thank you very much for your assistance. Err... do you live in this room?"

It seems my partner was rather muddled up as well. The girl made a stunned expression, and then raised her pince-nez glasses before she replied.

"How could that even possibly be the case now. ...Come."

Making a noise with the bottom end of the staff, she turned towards the large door on the wall in front and began walking. We followed behind in a fluster, saw the door open up by itself with a single swing from the staff, and fulfilled our duty of being surprised yet again.

Having passed through the door after the girl, Eugeo and I chalked up another stroke to the number of times we were shocked ever since we entered this enigmatic place and stood in amazement.

It was an absurd spectacle. If I were to express it in a single term—super-humongous-library-room.

The world that comprised entirely of «bookshelves and books» spread out infinitely. The overall space was shaped as a cylinder, but many layers of staircases and passages were built on the walls' surfaces, with myriads upon myriads of bookshelves lined up on one side or both. The distance between the floor we stood at now and the canopy on the other side of the long gallery that stretched out like a multi-story maze was easily forty meters at least. It would probably correspond to a ten-story building in the real world. I couldn't even begin to estimate the total number of books stowed away in the shelves.

No matter how I thought about it, there wasn't a building capable of containing this library room in that rose garden. While looking up at the canopy sunk in a faint darkness, I asked in a hoarse voice.

"Is... is this already inside the Central Cathedral?"

"You could say that, but that's not entirely true."

I realized the girl's voice had a faintly satisfied tone in it.

"As I've purged that original door, this Great Library Room does exist within the cathedral, yet it's not like every other person is able to enter. Not without an invitation from me, that is."

"Great... Library Room...?"

Eugeo murmured, still dumbfounded as he looked around.

"Yes. This place stores the records of all history since the creation of this world, the structural formulae of all that exist, and all of those system commands you lot name sacred arts."

......System commands, she says!?

I couldn't immediately believe what my own ears had heard and stared fixedly on the girl's face. Words escaped from my half-open lips, partly by themselves.

"Wh... who exactly... are you?"

The girl then, with a smile that practically said that she understood the shock I felt and the reason behind it, stated her name.

"My name is «Cardinal». I was the one who once regulated the world and now serve as the one and only librarian of this Great Library Room."

—Cardinal.

As far as I knew, that name held three different meanings.

The first, a high ranking position of the Catholic Church in the real world. They were called suukikyou in Japanese.

Second, the name of a bird in the Fringillidae family [4] . Shuujyoukoukanchou in Japanese, feathers grew over its entire body, scarlet like a Catholic cardinal's miter, the source of its name.

And the third—the highly functional autonomous program developed by Kayaba Akihiko for administrating VRMMO games, the «Cardinal System». Its first version was used in SAO, superbly regulating the balance behind the generation of currency, items and monsters within Aincrad, wrapping us players around its little finger.

Kayaba scanned his own brain with a STL prototype and died after SAO was cleared, but he shrunk the Cardinal System and compiled «The Seed», a development support package for the generic VRMMO before that.

The Seed was sent to bud far and wide on the internet by the will of the replicated thoughts program left behind by Kayaba in digital space and ended up managing Gun Gale Online and many other games. I had a hand in the free redistribution for The Seed as well and pondered on the digital Kayaba's true motive for the longest time, but couldn't reach a satisfying conclusion in the end. I doubt that man of all people would make a development environment completely free for merely a reason like atoning for the SAO incident, but...

At any rate, was the girl in front of my eyes right now the Cardinal System in a human form?

It was perfectly possible that she was an artificial fluct light with a high position in the Axiom Church with the name, «Cardinal». But the girl certainly said that she was once «the one who regulated» the world. Not one who led or ruled, but one who regulated, Cardinal.

But why was the Cardinal System in this world? Was the Underworld put together by utilizing The Seed? Even if that was so, why would the regulation system that should work entirely in the background, the «unseen hand of God», assume a human form? Unlike «Yui», the counseling program, Cardinal should not have any ability to converse with players itself.

As I stood still, toying with the endless questions I had, Eugeo spoke in a quivering voice by my side, perhaps struck with surprise in his own way too.

"All... history...? The chronicles of the founding of the four empires are all here...?"

"That's not all to it. Even the history of the world's creation from when the gods, Stacia and Vector, divided it into the Human World and the Dark Territory are recorded here."

Eugeo the history lover made a face as though he was about to swoon while swaying left and right at the girl's words. The mysterious girl possessing the name, Cardinal, pushed the glasses on her nose up with a somewhat mischievous smile.

"My story will take some time, so how about some food and rest before that? If you wish, you may even read the books on those shelves. Whichever you like, as many as you like."

There; and with a wave of her staff, a small, round table appeared from the floor at the side as though it protruded out. The plates atop the table had sandwiches, manjuu, sausages, fried pastries and the like, with plenty of steam rising up.

It was a compelling stimulation to our stomachs, having only sipped at the watery soup and gnawed at the rock hard bread from yesterday night, but it appears Eugeo felt guilty for enjoying feasts or reading books while on a rescue mission for Alice. He looked at me with conflicting emotions, so I shrugged my shoulders and voiced out words that sounded a little like excuses.

"Despite how tough the battle against Eldrie was when he was alone, it becomes impossible to break through if you add in that bow-wielding integrity knight riding on that flying dragon. Let's rest a little and revise our tactics. This place does seem safe and our Lives fell by quite a bit, after all."

"Yes. As there are charms cast over it, those wounds will immediately heal as well if you eat. Before that, both of you, hold out your right hands."

Eugeo and I obediently presented our shackled right hands at the girl's words that gave no leeway for refusal. With two waves of the staff onto them, the grim iron rings broke much too easily, falling onto the ground with the chains.

Eugeo appeared even more conflicted while stroking his wrist that attained freedom after roughly two whole days, but suddenly let out a big sneeze. Thinking back about it, he fell into the fountain headfirst during the battle with Eldrie and had his entire body drenched. At this rate, the possibility of the flu bad status being imposed upon him was high.

"...It appears you would do best to warm up that body before having a meal. It may be narrow, but there is a proper bathroom at the end of the passage there, so go. The food and books won't be running away."

Perhaps he thought that he really shouldn't be sleeping here, so Eugeo finally nodded apologetically.

"...Thank you, kindly allow me to take up your offer then, Ca... Cardinal-san. Erm... roughly where are those records of the world's creation?"

Cardinal lifted up the stick, and then pointed out a corner with a noticeably more crowded set of large bookshelves, rather high up.

"The history gallery is beyond that staircase."

"Thank you very much! ...Then, please excuse me."

Giving a curt bow, Eugeo sneezed once more before he quickly vanished into the passage between the bookshelves.

Cardinal watched him go off from behind and muttered in a whisper.

"...Regrettably, the records of the world's creation here are written by scribes, as dictated by the highest minister of the Axiom Church."

I turned towards the girl's large hat and lowered my voice as I asked.

"...Then there really aren't any gods in this world? No Stacia, no Solus, no Terraria... and no Vector either?"

"They don't exist."

Cardinal's reply was extremely succinct.

"The legends believed by the masses of the Underworld were fabricated and propagated for no more than the sake of establishing the church's rule. The gods' names are registered as super-accounts for emergencies, but not a single human from outside has ever logged in for that purpose."

Trifling as it was, a part of my doubts did disappear with those words. Looking intently into those burnt-brown eyes, I spoke.

"You aren't an inhabitant of the Underworld, huh. You're similar to those from outside of this world... someone like a system supervisor."

"Yes. And that applies to you as well, unregistered one, Kirito."

"......Aah, that's true."

It had been two years and two months since I woke up in this world. I had always maintained the unshakable conviction that this was not a true parallel world, but a virtual world generated by humans of the real world.

An intense, strong emotion that even I didn't expect welled up from within myself and I took a deep breath, and then exhaled it. There were too many questions that I should ask, making it difficult to choose one to start with. However, there was one that I must confirm before all other.

"The ones who created the Underworld are called Rath... R, a, t, h. Is that right?"

"Indeed."

"And you are the Cardinal System. An autonomous program with the purpose of regulating the virtual world."

The girl's eyes slightly twitched open the moment I said so.

"My, so you know about that. So you've come into contact with those of my kind on that side?"

"...Well, yeah."

That's putting it lightly. In a certain sense, it could have been said to be my ultimate enemy in those two years I fought in Aincrad. But she probably wouldn't be able to relate to that even if I talked about it.

"Still... as far as I know, the Cardinal System shouldn't have a personified interface packaged with it. Just... what are you? What are you doing in a place like this?"

Cardinal gave a faint wry smile at my consecutive questions. While pushing the curly, chestnut hair that drooped onto her forehead into her hat with her fingertips, she spoke in a voice that was sweet yet seasoned.

"Telling that story would take a long... a very long time. The reason behind why am I isolating myself in this library room... the reason behind why am I waiting for contact with you... the story behind it would take longer than you could imagine..."

She kept silent, as though she was seized by anxiety, for an instant, but immediately raised her face and continued.

"I shall summarize it as much as I can. ...Firstly, eat; those wounds hurt, do they not?"

I had completely forgotten about the pain after all these developments beyond my wildest expectations, but my chest struck by Eldrie's whip and my right foot pierced by the archer throbbed the instant it was pointed out.

Doing as I was told, I took one of the piping hot meat manjuu from the table, opened my mouth wide, and bit into it. Its taste surpassed or at least wasn't inferior to those meat buns from Gottlo's store that I tended to buy and eat on the go when I sneaked out of the Master Swords Academy, and I ended up greedily stuffing my cheeks in a trance. Perhaps due to some sort of command inserted into it, each bite made the pain fade away and even sealed up the wounds.

"...As expected of the supervisor... Able to manipulate even the parameters of food, huh?"

Upon murmuring in wonder, Cardinal made a hmph sound through her nose.

"You're mistaken on two counts. I am currently not the supervisor. And all I can manipulate are the objects within this library room."

Swiveling behind just like that, she walked towards a passage that bent with the wall. I rushed to carry as many manjuu and sandwiches as I could before checking the passage that linked to the bathroom on the other side. Much time needed to be spent warming up to prevent the flu status, so Eugeo shouldn't be getting out for a while...

"......Nn? Wait... if you can heal wounds through food, shouldn't it be possible to prevent flu that way too?"

When I pointed that out, Cardinal turned to me for an instant and grinned. She apparently wanted to take Eugeo out of the picture for a bit, using the bath as an excuse.

Proceeding on at the back of the unexpectedly scheming sage, we encountered frequent forks and slopes, one after another, making me rapidly lose track of our location within the Great Library Room. When the magical food that I sloppily ate on the way nearly ran out, a circular space surrounded by bookshelves appeared in our path. In its middle was a single table with two antiquated chairs encircling it.

Airily sitting down upon one of the chairs, Cardinal pointed her staff at the opposite one without any further words. I, too, sat down as instructed.

In that moment, two cups of tea appeared atop the table. Cardinal held up the cup in front of herself and drank a mouth of it before she calmly began the conversation.

"Have you ever thought about this? About the reason for the existence of feudalism in this peaceful artificial world."

I recalled the meaning of the unfamiliar word from Cardinal's lips was «feudalism», but it still took about two seconds.

Feudalism. It was a governance structure where land was held by nobles as lords and a ruler who reigned over them. In short, the type of setting common in fantasy novels and games—that said, it's more uncommon to find those that don't use it—involving emperors, kings, earls, barons, etc; a class system like that of the Middle Ages.

There was no doubt that the Underworld used a world setup imaged on Europe in the Middle Ages, so I had never felt the existence of nobles and emperors to be out of place. Hence, I was at a complete loss for words at Cardinal's question.

"Why... well... that's because the creators designed it that way, isn't it?"

"Nay."

The ends of Cardinal's small lips faintly showed signs of twisting into a smile with her immediate rebuttal, as though she predicted my answer.

"The humans from outside that gave life to this world prepared nothing more than a mere vessel. The ones who produced the current societal structure were no other than its inhabitants, the masses of the Underworld."

"I see..."

True, this wasn't a story for Eugeo's ears.

After slowly nodding, I finally remembered something I had to make sure of, first of all. The girl recognized the existence of Rath in the real world. If that's the case, she...

"Wa-Wait a minute. Are you able to contact the real world? Do you have the means to communicate with the other side?"

I eagerly asked, but Cardinal denied it, disconcerted.

"Fool, if I was capable of that, I wouldn't have been shut in a dusty place like this for hundreds of years. Unfortunately, that person is the only one who holds the means... no one other than the highest minister."

"I... I see..."

I was curious in who exactly that highest minister was supposed to be as well, but I figured to leave it aside for now and placed my bets on the last sliver of hope.

"Then, at least tell me what month and day it is in the real world right now... or maybe where is my body in the real world right now..."

"I apologize; I am unable to access the system domain as I am now. Even the scope of the data domain I am able to browse is of nothing more than an insignificant amount. I am an existence far more powerless in comparison to the Cardinal you knew of on the other side."

I, too, felt bad looking at Cardinal, who had a depressed expression that suited her age, perhaps due to the shame from that fact, and exaggeratedly shook my head.

"No, just knowing the real world exists was more than I could ask for. I apologize for butting in the conversation... erm, you were talking about the reason behind the feudalism?"

Returning to the topic, I pondered for a short while before continuing.

"That would be... because someone had to supervise over the preservation of public order, allocation of products, and things like that, wouldn't it?"

"Fm. However, you ought to know this as well. The inhabitants of this world generally do not oppose the law. There are no acts of causing hurt, robbery or monopolization of crops. Diligence and impartiality are deeply ingrained, so wouldn't developing into a communist society serve it better? Do you believe that this world with a population of merely a hundred thousand or so require a class system as excessive as to involve the presence of four emperors and over a thousand nobles who label themselves aristocrats?"

"A hundred thousand..."

The total population of the Underworld that I found out for the first time. Cardinal said "merely", but I, on the other hand, was surprised by its enormity. Rather than a research into artificial intelligence, this was already a true simulation of a civilization.

But certainly, twenty five thousand subjects ruled over by a single emperor utterly paled in comparison with the Roman Empire or the Franks of ancient times. So I suppose it would have been more believable for this feudalism to be created based on an example from reality, rather than arising from some sort of need.

And once again, Cardinal threw more unanticipated words at me, when I cocked my head in puzzlement.

"I mentioned that gods do not exist in this world earlier. However, during the creation of the world—four hundred and fifty years in the past, there were some who resembled them. Back when Central Centoria was merely a small village... there were four of those «gods»."

"Eh, four hundred and fifty years? Wasn't it three hundred and eighty? I mean, right now, it's Human World Calendar..."

The sage shrugged her shoulders in exasperation at my slightly off-topic question.

"I do believe I said this earlier; that creation myth was a literary work of the Church. The origin of the current calendar is nothing more than one fabricated after that era."

"I-Is that so? So... you were talking about those four «gods»? They were definitely human... the staff from Rath that created this world?"

It seems I gave the proper response this time round, as Cardinal nodded with a faint smile.

"Oh, so you've figured that much out, haven't you."

"...The chicken should have come before the egg in this world, after all. There were some who raised up the artificial fluct light babies at the start... otherwise, there would be no explanation for why they are able to speak and write in Japanese here."

"That is a logical deduction. It is exactly as you have said. In the beginning... when I was still the supervisor without a consciousness of my own, four from the outside world made their way to this land and brought up eight «children» as farming families in two houses. From reading and writing, cultivation of crops, rearing of livestock... to what would become the basis of the Taboo Index later, the morality of good and evil."

"They were truly gods... the responsibilities must have been huge. A single careless word would have influenced the fate of human society later on."

Cardinal nodded with an exceedingly stern face when I said «'a single careless word'».

"Indeed. I have deliberated over these and arrived at a single conclusion only after being confined within this library room, but... getting to the point, why would feudalism exist in this world that originally had no need for it? Should an aberrant law system like the Taboo Index and moreover, the nobles who make use of its loopholes for their own profits and pleasure exist? There is no longer a single answer to those questions."

While pushing up those small round glasses, the girl continued in her dignified voice.

"It was also clear that the «original four» had intellect of the highest grade as humans, seeing as they brilliantly accomplished the difficult mission they were charged with. Concurrently, they gave the Underworld inhabitants an innate sense of virtue, so they must have been ethically respectable as well. However, that did not apply to all four of them."

"...What did you say...?"

"There was a single one who had excellent intellect, but lacked ethics. That person «corrupted» them, so to speak. One or two among those children brought up. It was likely unintentional, but... still, one's true nature cannot be hidden. Greed that served their own self-interest, such as the desire for wealth and dominance, got handed down as well. Those children became the ancestors. Of the nobles and emperors ruling the current Human World and the higher ministers of the Axiom Church..."

Lacked ethics... she said?

In short, the source of the malice held by some of the nobles was someone within Rath's core staff? And that evil was mentally inherited down the generations and in the end, gave birth to humans like Raios Antinous and Humbert Zizek, huh.

I could feel a sudden chill sweeping through my whole body. In the real world, I was linked up to the STL at Rath's headquarters somewhere, unconscious. I couldn't help but shiver at the thought that a person with the same nature as Raios might be prowling about right beside me.

Did I know that person? I tried to call to mind the faces of the staff in Rath in my memory, but the only ones who immediately appeared were the researcher-in-charge, Higa Takeru, and the mysterious government worker who introduced me to Rath, Kikuoka Seijirou. Of course, there were several other staff members at the Rath branch in Roppongi, but I had nothing but indistinct memories of them. At any rate, my part-time job at Rath was over two years ago in the past from my point of view.

The question was whether that person merely had strong egoism and greed, or if that person sneaked into Rath while hiding some sort of motive. Making off with the research and selling it off, or perhaps... something like sabotage?

"Cardinal... do you know the names of those «original four»?"

Unfortunately, the girl slowly shook her head at my question.

"The authority to access the entire system domain is required to find that out."

"No... I'm sorry for asking things like that over and over again."

Anyway, nothing could be done even if I knew their names right now. The need to gain the means of contacting the other side certainly did strengthen, though.

Shifting my weight onto the back of the chair, I took a sip of the sweet-smelling tea before returning to the topic.

"I see... If only a small portion among the Underworld people possess a desire for dominance, it's only natural for them to be the elites. It'll be like mixing lions into a herd of gazelles."

"And they are similar to an irremovable virus program too. When a child is born from its parents in this world, it inherits not only their outer appearances, but their natures as well, you see. The lower class nobles who often married with commoners did dilute their egoism, however..."

I recalled the sense of justice and benevolence of the sixth class aristocrats, Ronye and Tiezé, which was truly worthy of respect with those words from Cardinal.

"So that means... if marriages between fellow nobles were to continue on the other hand, they would keep their egoism, that's how it is?"

"Indeed. That essence is within the four imperial families and the higher ministers of the church. And standing at the summit of that whole lot is the absolute ruler of this Human World... the highest minister of the Axiom Church and even the system supervisor at this current point, a single woman. She calls herself by a name, arrogant beyond all others, «Administrator»."

"Admini... strator."

Its meaning in English was «administrator» and it was also the term used to denote a «supervisor» in certain operating systems; I softly repeated the name. Come to think of it, I seem to recall Integrity Knight Eldrie speaking out that name when he caused that mysterious phenomenon that released light. In other words, the entity whom the integrity knights swore fealty to was the highest minister, Administrator... that's how it was?

Upon reaching that point in my thoughts, I finally noticed the presence of another important bit of information within Cardinal's words.

"Eh... y-you said she was female? That highest minister?"

I held the preconception that the one at the top of the Axiom Church was an elderly male since a pretty long time ago, but it appears that was wrong. Cardinal nodded and added a scowl that would lose to no other.

"Indeed, that is so. And... although I find it repulsive, that person could be said to be my elder twin sister as well."

"What... what do you mean?"

Unable to grasp the notion, I asked back, but the sage who assumed the form of a girl did not seem like she would be answering anytime soon.

As though she was disgusted at herself, she gazed at her own white, slender right hand for a while before languidly opening her mouth.

"...I shall speak of it in turn... It was roughly three and a half hundred years ago when the absolute governing organization, the Axiom Church, was formed. In other words, that would be a hundred years after the start of the simulation, you see. Humans of the Human World married at around twenty years old at that time and bore an average of five children, so those of the fifth generation had already exceeded six hundred. Adding their parents and their generation would bring it close to a thousand, though..."

"Wa-Wait a minute. In the first place, what are the systems for marriage and childbirth in this world?"

I panicked upon realizing it wasn't a good question for a girl around ten years old, regardless of her actual age, after I instinctively asked, grasping at the opportunity to resolve a question I had had for two years. Still, Cardinal replied breezily, without raising a single eyebrow.

"I am unable to affirm without the proper knowledge on acts of reproduction between humans in the real world, but the deed itself should be much the same as in reality, judging from the structural principles of fluct lights. Only after a male-female couple who registered a marriage in the system accomplishes the deed, will there be a certain probability for the mother to become pregnant. To be specific, a new fluct light model will be loaded into an empty cube within the Light Cube Cluster, with a part of the parents' external elements and their patterns of thoughts and character inserted, which is then created as a newborn baby."

"H-Hah, I see... What did you mean by marriage registration?"

"It's a simple system command. It takes the form of pledging a marriage to the god, Stacia. The village chief would be the one to conduct it in the original era, but after churches were established in the various areas, the ceremonies were held only by the monks or nuns there."

"Hmm...... —Ah, sorry for going off topic. Please continue your story."

Cardinal gently nodded and resumed the explanation at my insistence.

"Tens of years after the «original four» logged out, the inhabitants that reached a thousand in numbers were already ruled by several lords. As those that inherited the weapon named egoism from their ancestors earnestly continued to expand the land they owned, they ended up making the youth deprived of land for cultivation nearby work for them as tenant farmers. There were some among them not content with their social positions that set off from the central, cultivating new lands in remote regions as well, though."

"I see, so those youth built up towns and villages like Zakkaria or Rulid."

"That's right. ...The lords that ruled over the central naturally held enmity for each other, so there was a long period of time without marriages in between them. However, something similar to a political marriage between two families of lords once happened for the first time... as a result, a single female baby was born. That baby had a lovely appearance, like that of angels, and possessed a level of egoism higher than any seen before among all of the fluct lights in the Underworld... She was named Quinella."

A light drifted about Cardinal's eyes that stared into space as though they were wandering through the far-off past.

The flames of the various lamps mounted in between the bookshelves surrounding the small room cast intricate shadows over the girl's pale cheeks. Within the tranquility where one could even hear a pin drop, a gentle voice, yet tinged with sorrow, flowed on.

"At that time, the one who assigned the sacred tasks for the children in Centoria—it was already at a scale closer to a town than a village by then—was the one and only lord, Quinella's father. Upon reaching ten years of age, Quinella showed talent in various fields, swordsmanship and sacred arts, song and weaving; everyone thought she would serve her time finely, whichever task it was. However, because of that—her father thought the beautiful Quinella was too dear to work outside in the town..."

Cardinal showed a faint, wretched smile.

"Foolish possessiveness. So that Quinella may be within his grasp at any time, he bestowed a sacred task that did not exist until then, «sacred arts research», upon his daughter. Quinella demonstrated her intelligence freely, deep within her residence and started on the analysis of sacred arts... or in other words, system commands. Until then, the Underworld inhabitants knew only the mere fundamental commands, without a single person considering the meaning behind the terms making up each command. That was sufficient, for day-to-day purposes, at least."

True, Eugeo and the other villagers back when I was at Rulid Village did nothing more than pulling out the «Stacia Window» for checking Life.

"However... Quinella, possessing an alarming amount of tenacity and insight as a child, continued her analysis on the meaning of the terms used in commands. On the words, «generate», «element», and «object», for example, from a wondrous parallel world. And with several extremely fundamental commands as the base, Quinella finally worked out the «Thermal Arrow» art through her own efforts. The system commands that were originally a tool for nothing more than making life convenient became an offensive art to injure live targets. —Now, Kirito."

Suddenly called out, I blinked as I looked into Cardinal's face.

"Do you understand the reason why your sacred arts usage authority level... in other words, the value of your «system access authority» steeply increased?"

"Aah... well, more or less. It's probably because I fought monsters... a group of goblins in a cave and drove them away."

"Indeed, that was it. This world was originally designed for its inhabitants to battle with invading enemies from outside to strengthen oneself. That would be needed only after it enters the «load experimental phase», however... At any rate, to raise one's authority level, there is no choice but to defeat enemies from outside or through steady usage of the commands. Quinella found out that arrangement on her own at the mere age of eleven. When she tested shooting the flame arrows with the harmless kintobi foxes within the forest near her home as targets, that is..."

"...So, that means the targets to defeat for raising one's authority are not limited to enemies from outside... the monsters in the land of darkness...?"

"Indeed. the so-called «experience points increase» occurs whenever any sort of mobile unit, including humans, is annihilated. Of course, the humans in this world do not murder other humans and most humans wouldn't try to kill harmless animals either. However, it is difficult for those who strongly possess the genes of nobility. They hunt for sport and as a result, strengthen that authority without the intention to... And the one who carried it out with a clear intent was the eleven years old Quinella."

Cutting off her words for the time being there, Cardinal gently held the tea cup to her lips. With it still engulfed in her two hands, she quietly resumed talking.

"...Having noticed the sacred art usage authority rises with the murder of beasts, the girl sneaked out from home each night and continued the slaughter without alarming her family or the villagers. I would have trembled at Quinella's actions if I had a consciousness back when I controlled the Underworld. The girl emotionlessly... no, she might have felt a sort of euphoria as she cleared off all of the wild beast units near Centoria in a single night. The deceased units were replenished as long as the system commanded it... and utterly annihilated once again the next night..."

—To a VRMMO gamer like myself, that should have been an extremely typical course of action. During the SAO era, I repeated that sort of «hunt» every single day and strengthened my own status. That was the basic nature of MMOs.

However, cold sweat now ran down my back after hearing Cardinal's words.

A young girl wandering about in a dark forest late at night, wearing pajamas and indifferently incinerating any animals she found to death. No single word but «nightmare», was fit to describe that image.

As though infected by my dread, Cardinal exerted even more force in holding the cup between her two hands.

"Quinella's authority level continued to rise infinitely. Making steady progress on the analysis of commands as well, the girl eventually became able to handle numerous kinds of arts that the masses back then felt similar to miracles, such as Life recovery and weather prediction. The inhabitants of Centoria believed Quinella was a child sent by the gods and revered her, her father the first to do so. ...Reaching thirteen of age, Quinella possessed a truly divine beauty. Showing her gentle smile, Quinella realized it was time to fully satisfy her endless desire for domination. Rather than ownership over land like lords; rather than practicing the sword like warriors; she went with a definite, powerful method... by deceiving with the name of god..."

Having cut off her speech, Cardinal shifted her vision upwards—towards the faraway canopy high up in the Great Library Room, or perhaps the real world that laid beyond it.

"It was the greatest blunder made by the humans who constructed this world. To explain away the inexplicable effects of the system commands with a concept like «god». In my opinion... an existence like god is a drug too benign for those living beings known as humans. Soothing all pain, pardoning all acts of cruelty. Fortunately, I cannot hear the voice of god with my lack of emotions..."

Returning her burnt-brown pupils to the cup, the girl gently knocked against the porcelain edge with a finger on her left hand. Hot liquid instantly gushed up from the bottom, filling the nearly empty cup with piping hot tea.

"Blind belief played a part as well, with miracles like those happening before their eyes and explained as the work of god. ...There were already none who doubted Quinella's words after she instantaneously healed a man who suffered an injury during farm work and predicted a storm's arrival a whole three days in advance. She told lords of her father's status and below that a place to pray to god was necessary. To bring about even more wondrous abilities, that is. A white marble tower was immediately erected in the middle of the village. The site was small at that time as well, with a height of merely three stories... but indeed, that was truly the foundation of this Central Cathedral. And at the same time, the start of the three and a half hundred years history of the Axiom Church."

The tale of the holy woman, Quinella, of ancient times told by Cardinal forced a certain person to mind. I heard it from Eugeo and Selka without actually meeting the person myself, but—she was the girl who showed talent in the sacred arts from childhood and was bestowed the sacred task of being a sister apprentice to the church, Alice Schuberg.

But Eugeo recalled Alice being more gentle than anyone else when she was in Rulid. Not to mention she was Selka's elder sister. It was awfully hard to imagine her sneaking out from home night after night, annihilating beasts in a forest.

How did Alice increase her system access authority, then?

My focus, submerged within the depths of that doubt, was pulled back by Cardinal's voice.

?

"The inhabitants of those days believed that Quinella was a female shaman blessed by the god, Stacia, without exception. They prayed to the white tower in the morning and evening and donated a part of their harvest without hesitation. The lords unrelated to Quinella by blood were unsettled by the girl's existence at the start, but... still, Quinella was stubborn. She made all of the lords into nobles in the name of god, or in other words, she appointed them to the aristocracy. There were still some among the ordinary farmers that held a certain extent of resentment over the lords' exploitations at that time, but they couldn't disobey when it was an authority recognized by god. And those lords that became nobles, too, judged it more beneficial to obey, rather than oppose Quinella."

Returning the tea cup to its dish with a dull clink, Cardinal looked straight at me as she spoke.

"It took a while to get to this point, but this is the reason behind the existence of feudalism in the Underworld."

"I see... So it wasn't a class system that developed from the need for societal improvement, but one for control... huh. I suppose it would be only natural that the higher class nobles don't feel a sense of duty."

I murmured and Cardinal nodded with a frown.

"I doubt you've seen it with your own eyes, but the behavior of greater nobles and the imperial families within their own private land is truly atrocious. It would be impossible to predict how much of a hell it would have been if it wasn't for the Taboo Index prohibiting acts of murder and causing hurt."

"...The one who created that Taboo Index is that Quinella-san in question too, right? Does that mean that... even she had some moral sense?"

"Fm, I wonder."

Cardinal made a cute noise with her nose.

"—Even after my many years of deliberation, I still do not understand the reason why the inhabitants of this world do not violate the rules established through their superiors' authorities. I am no exception to this rule. As I do not regard the Axiom Church as a superior existence, I am not bound by the Taboo Index... but still, I am unable to infringe the various rules placed upon myself as the program, Cardinal. You could say that the act of being confined within this place for hundreds of years is the result of my inability to oppose those commands."

"The inability to oppose superior rules... does that apply to Quinella too?"

"Indeed. As she was the one who created the Taboo Index, Quinella is not bound by that foolish law... but still, she did not disobey the various rules set down by her parents when she was young and is now driven on by a new command. Think about it, do you believe that person would be satisfied with killing only animals if it wasn't for her parents teaching her to «not injure people»? She would have obviously murdered humans who are more efficient in increasing her authority level instead."

Goose bumps rose on my back with a chill yet again. Holding that back, I moved my mouth.

"Fm... in other words, injuring others was a taboo from the start, ingrained into the children by the «original four», you mean? Quinella simply put that into writing and added other minor details... that's it?"

"That's the rough idea. However, it was surely not out of some desire for world peace. —Reaching her mid-twenties, Quinella became increasingly beautiful, the tower became ever taller and held countless people as disciples. Similar white towers were erected in the villages of each area and upon formally naming it the Axiom Church, Quinella's system of rule became all the more concrete even during then. However... as the population steadily increased and the land occupied by people expanded, Quinella became uneasy of the potential places beyond the reach of her own eyes. Wouldn't someone who noticed the secret behind the sacred arts usage authority like herself appear in the remote regions, she questioned. And there, for the sake of ensuring her all-encompassing rule, she decided to create a law on a corporeal medium. Loyalty to the Axiom Church was written in the first clause and the prohibition of murder was recorded in the second. Why, you ask?"

Keeping her silence for a moment, Cardinal stared fixedly at me before she continued.

"—Naturally, because one would notice that one's authority level increases after killing a human. That was the only reason; that is why the church prohibits murder. There isn't any sort of moral, ethical or benevolent reason in that single sentence."

I instinctively tried to protest while slightly shocked.

"Bu...but acts of murder and causing hurt were ethically taboo as established by the «original four», right? Wouldn't people possess that sense of morals even without the church saying so?"

"However, what would happen if the parents failed to teach that? The probabilities are low, but what if there were children separated from their parents, or in other words, their initial superior existence, immediately after birth, without receiving any guidance on ethics? If that child possessed the genes of nobles, there was the possibility of the child following its own desires and killing the humans around, attaining an authority level beyond that of Quinella. To reduce that possibility to the minimum, Quinella compiled the book that would become the Taboo Index, published it and placed it into the possessions of each and every town or village. Parents were assigned the duty to teach children the Taboo Index from its first page after they learn language. Look here, if the humans of this world appear to be good, diligent and overflowing with benevolence, that was merely because it makes things more convenient for them, the absolute governing organization, the Axiom Church, that is."

"B... but..."

I was unable to take in Cardinal's words without resistance and endlessly shook my head left and right.

I did not want to believe that the respectable personalities of the people I interacted with at Rulid Village, on my travels and at the Master Swords Academy—Selka, Ronye, Tiezé, Sortiliena-senpai... and beyond all others, Eugeo, were all things forced onto them by programming.

"...That's not all to it, right? Wasn't there still that little... original form of the fluct light thing? Something conferred onto the souls of us humans from the very start..."

"You should have already laid your eyes on proof contrary to that, haven't you?"

Taken aback at Cardinal's words, I blinked two, three times.

"Eh...?"

"Those goblins that mercilessly tried to kill Eugeo and you. Did you not think that they were not merely codes from a program? That was truly the form assumed when the fluct light model is exposed to orders completely opposite to the Taboo Index... to kill, to rob, and to obey their desires. Look here, those are no longer «people»; in a certain sense, they are exactly the same as you."

"......"

I sank into silence for a period of time.

I did guess that was the case. Those monsters I crossed swords with under the mountain range at the edge, slightly less than two years ago—the goblins' conversations and gestures were truly natural, without even a shred of resemblance to the programming for monsters and NPCs appearing in ordinary VRMMO games. Above all, the glitter of desire that dwelled within their yellow eyes was not something that could be represented with a mere texture map. Definitely.

But then again, if I were to judge them as «humans» in possession of fluct lights as well, I couldn't ignore the issue any longer. To help Selka, Eugeo and I killed two of those beasts... no, people, but they were merely obeying the desire written into their souls. Eugeo was able to break the restraints of the Taboo Index, so there ought to be a possibility that those goblins, too, were able to resist the commands to kill and steal. Despite that, I firmly believed them to be evil merely because they were goblins with frightening outward appearances and swung my sword down without any hesitation...

"Bother not, fool."

Cardinal's words snapped at me, as I deeply hung my head down without noticing.

"Do you plan on declaring that you will become god as well? No answer will reveal itself even if you spend a hundred years or two worrying over it. Even now—I am still at a loss even after waiting all this time for a chance to finally meet you..."

Upon lifting my face, Cardinal's thin brows came together into a frown as she stared into the depths of her cup. She continued her words as though reciting a poem in that posture.

"I, too, was once a supervisor without a shred of hesitation. I had not a single thought for the tiny beings squirming within my palm, running the world with an unchanging law. However, when I gained a human body like so... developing an attachment towards life, there were some things I began to understand... It is likely that the ones who constructed this world did not understand the true meaning behind what they have created either. They, too, were not gods, after all... even if they knew of Quinella's deplorable deeds, they might display interest, but not distress. Despite the certainty of the hell, that words would fail to describe, this world would become if it enters the load experimental phase at this rate..."

"About... about that, what exactly is that load experiment? You mentioned it earlier, but..."

Interrupting the conversation, Cardinal raised her lowered eyes and gave a light nod.

"Let's return to the story, I must explain it in sequence. —The part where Quinella created the Taboo Index and distributed it over the entire world, was it? Due to that book, the Axiom Church's rule became ever sturdier. After all, Quinella revised the index time after time, tightly binding the masses with a sense of moral that changed to suit the church's convenience while eliminating the sources of all troubles that occur in daily life. Writing down even the prohibition of access to a swamp that was stated as the source of an endemic disease and the name of the grass that causes sheep unable to be milked when eaten... If one were to not think and simply follow whatever was in that book, not a single problem will occur. The masses prayed to and believed in the church as the years passed, without a single person suspicious of the loyalty to the church mentioned in the first clause."

It was a truly absolute reign. An ideal society completely without starvation, rebellion, or revolution—

"There was a boom in Centoria's population, with progress on architecture techniques through the application of large-scale commands, transforming the once-village into a splendid city in the twinkling of an eye. The grounds of the Axiom Church expanded in the same way, with the tower steadily increasing in height... Come to think of it, this Central Cathedral is likely a representation of Quinella's insatiable desires. She did not know what was enough. Reaching thirty, forty of age, her features declined even further. That said, it wasn't like she indulged in gourmet food and lust like the greater nobles. From a certain point in time, Quinella showed herself no more to those of the world, confining herself within the highest floor of the ever-rising tower and earnestly immersed herself purely in the analysis of the sacred arts. She sought more authority, more sacraments... enough to transcend the absolute limit set upon herself: her end, «Life»."

In this world, the status, Life, was a cruelly vivid property.

Steadily increasing through growth, reaching its peak in the twenties or thirties, or when reversing, a gentle reduction until zero at sixty to eighty of age. My Life increased by quite a bit in these two years as well. It certainly was scary having this value decrease day after day. All the more so, if you were the absolute ruler with the world in your palm.

"However... no matter how many commands she analyzed, even if she got a hold of arts that could manipulate even the weather, the limit of Life was... in other words, the one thing she could do nothing about was her life span. Manipulating that was limited to those who possessed supervisor rights... the supervisors from the outside world or perhaps the autonomous control system, Cardinal. Quinella's Life steadily reduced day after day. Reaching fifty years old, reaching sixty years old... all traces of her divine beauty that once bewitched people's hearts faded unnoticed, faltering even while she walked, before she finally became unable to leave her magnificent bed in the bedroom at the highest point of the world. Taking out the Stacia Window once every hour, staring at the value of her Life being steadily shaved away..."

Suddenly cutting off, Cardinal hugged her small frame with both hands as though she felt a shiver.

"...But still, Quinella never gave up. It was a dreadful tenacity... Testing out each and every combination of sounds in her hoarse voice, day and night, struggling to call upon some forbidden command. —That endeavor should not have borne any fruit. To put it into probability, it would be like flipping a thousand coins and having them all land on heads... no, the chance was smaller than that... However... still..."

I was assailed by a sudden, indescribable chill, shaking as my body shivered. I could clearly see Cardinal—the girl, who declared herself to be an emotionless system, evidently feeling some sort of fear.

"...On a night when she was finally on the brink of death... everything would end with a single minor injury, with a nudge from illness... Quinella finally opened it: the forbidden door. Through some impossible coincidence... or perhaps with a helping hand from some entity from the outside world, or so I think. —Allow me to show you, even if you can't use it."

Cardinal held the staff with her left hand and lifted it, enunciating as though she was whispering.

"System call! Inspect entire command list!"

In that instant, a heavy sound effect I had never heard before rang out and a relatively large purple window opened before Cardinal.

That was all. No divine light raining down, no angels trumpeting, nothing of that sort at all. However, I understood the terrifying effect of that command.

This certainly was the ultimate sacred art. So much that it must not exist by nature.

"It appears you figured it out. Indeed... a catalogue of all existing system commands is recorded on this window. This, too, is a major mistake by the world's creators. They definitely should have deleted this particular command... the instant when the «original four» that needed it left this world."

Cardinal waved the staff and the forbidden list vanished.

"Quinella opened her hazy eyes and stared at the window. And she understood everything, became ecstatic and literally leapt to her feet. The command she sought was noted down at the end of the list. A command in the event that a pressing need to adjust the world balance from inside arises... one that steals all authority from the Cardinal System, to become a true god..."

Suddenly, that scene vividly showed up within my mind.

The highest floor of a tower tall enough to reach the clouds. Nothing but the undulating black clouds in the starless night sky and violet lightning could be seen in all directions through the surrounding windows.

There was only a single canopy in the middle of the empty, wide room. But its owner was not lying on it. Long hair that lost its color was disheveled upon the soft mattress, a boney figure dancing a strange dance with distorted motions. Two arms thrust out of the white silk pajamas like withered branches, howls of delight flowing from that throat bent backwards. With the thunder that started rumbling, raging ever harder, as its accompaniment, the forbidden spell to usurp the authority of god was woven together in a shrill voice, like that of an eerie bird...

This Underworld wasn't an AI experiment any longer, perhaps not even a simulation of a virtual civilization.

Even the staff from Rath who created this world... even Kikuoka Seijirou, Higa Takeru and the rest had lived only thirty-plus years at most. However, the incarnation of pure desire for domination, Quinella, was already eighty when she achieved administrative rights. And if Cardinal's words proved right, she had piled up closer to another three hundred years since then. No one would be able to imagine just what sort of existence did a being of such intelligence end up as.

Could Kikuoka and the rest really control everything? How much of what was happening here did they understand...?

The black-robed young sage and I stared at each other while grasping onto each of our own anxiety.

Doors do not exist within the Great Library Room... in other words, it ought to be completely isolated from the world outside, but it felt like I heard the low rumbling of thunder from far away.

That ominous noise seemed like a warning for the arrival of a new, and mightiest storm at the path that should have been approaching its end.

(To Be Continued)

Afterword

Hello, this is Kawahara Reki. Thank you very much for reading 'Sword Art Online 11 Alicization Turning'. The subtitle literally means a turning point, but whether this volume could be considered a turning point for the Alicization arc in terms of quantity or not... I'm sorry, I still can't say for sure right now...! It's just that the book ends with Kirito and Eugeo, who were living their somewhat contented school lives, encountering a big turning point while the story shifts towards a new stage. And the secret behind the Underworld's creation was finally articulated by a person Kirito met there, possessing a name familiar to him... I certainly can't say drawing attention towards the next volume like that is very honorable, but I'll try my best to deliver volume 12 as fast as I can, so I hope for your support in accompanying these two on their adventures from now on as well.

This is the sixth book to be released this year, so it seems I've yet again maintained my six-books-a-year pace since my debut in 2009. 2012 was an extremely momentous year when with both of my series, Sword Art Online and Accel World, receiving anime adaptions, allowing me to meet many people and gaining a peek into a world new to me, so I believe that had quite an influence on my mindset regarding my work. I do not have all the space needed to write all of that down here, but to summarize it, I believe it would be to «work on my creations seriously, yet while enjoying it». Writing novels is a one-man operation, so I always end up melancholic upon entering my inner space, but I keep it up because I enjoy it; I think that is the basis or principle behind the motivation for literary works, so I wish to return to my roots around here and enjoy writing volume after volume from next year onwards too. I want to maintain my six-books-a-year pace for as long as I can too! Of course, it's not like I'm writing to see the number of my published works increase, but I have a sort of rotten belief that I will never be able to return to my original pace once I slack off with my personality, so I hope to continue my bimonthly releases until the two series, SAO and Accel World, end at least... and here I am, chasing myself into a corner with what I write here (haha).

The new series, 'Progressive', started this year, so SAO ended up with four volumes. I am truly thankful that the illustrator, abec, was able to draw so many wonderful illustrations for the book despite already having an extensive list of work related to the anime. I'm sorry to the editors-in-charge, Miki-shi and Tsuchiya-shi, for being late for all that, all the time. Even this afterword's thirty minutes late!

And please allow me to express my gratitude once again, to everyone who have accompanied me here. I hope for your support in the coming year as well!

A Certain Day in October, 2012     Kawahara Reki

References and Translation Notes

1 Originally, "between «Eugeo» and «swordsman»", but the title, "swordsman" was behind «Eugeo» in the original text.

2 "stay cool" - In English. Hence Eugeo's reply

3 "...the first in the series, you get Ichiemom." - One ("1") in Japanese is "ichi". Hence, ichi + emom = ichiemom. However, it's pronounced as "ichiemon", like the "mon" from "monster", rather than the "mom" meaning mother.

4 This appears to be factually inaccurate. The translation... should be accurate, though. I'm no wildlife specialist.