Sword Art Online - Volume 19 - Chapter 10

10 
Despite a hundred guards searching for half a day, the body of the kidnapper was never found. 
He had jumped out of the castle from a height of five hundred mels with his arms cut off. It would have seemed an impossible task to survive such a situation, but neither Iskahn, Sheyta, nor Kirito intended to assume the best-case scenario when it came to this incident. 
At four o’clock in the afternoon, after the cleanup of the incident inside the castle had concluded, the four of them gathered in Sheyta and Iskahn’s room again, where the window had since been repaired. 
Leazetta was peacefully drinking milk in Sheyta’s arms, the horrible ordeal completely forgotten. The palace’s doctor and Sheyta, with her skill in high-level arts, were very thorough in determining that the baby wasn’t under the effects of any poison or dark arts, thankfully. 
On the other hand, they knew next to nothing about the kidnapper himself. And the biggest mystery of all—how he had opened the window on the fiftieth floor, which was controlled only by Emperor Vecta—remained unsolved. 
“You know…it might be totally unrelated,” said Ronie as she sipped an unfamiliar type of tea that smelled faintly of apples, “but I noticed that when he opened the window, the large jewel hanging around his neck glowed red.” 
“Red jewel…?” Kirito repeated. Sheyta looked curious as well. They did not seem to recognize the concept. 
But Iskahn, who was just biting into a large slice of nut pie, frowned and muttered, “A glowing red jewel…Do you remember the particular shade of red, Ronie?” 
She realized this was the first time the high-ranking man had confidently called her by name. “It was, um, not very bright…A darker red, the color of the setting sun or blood,” she told him. 
“Bloodred…No…it couldn’t be……” 
“Whoa, Iskahn, you can’t just drop a hint like that and leave us hanging! It’s against the rules!” Kirito complained. 
“Against what rules…?” Iskahn growled, looking suspicious. But still he explained, “There was a stone like that embedded in Emperor Vecta’s crown when he arrived before the war. I remember it because it was the only jewel he wore.” 
“Vecta’s crown…? Then it definitely can’t be. The first time he died was in battle with Commander Bercouli, thousands of kilors to the south of us. When he came back after that, he wasn’t wearing the crown anymore. So whatever he was wearing the first time would have vanished on that rocky mountain down south.” 
“But you didn’t see it happen, did you?” Iskahn retorted. 
“Well…true…,” Kirito murmured. 
At the time, Kirito had been in a mentally inactive state. Bercouli and Vecta’s duel to the death had been witnessed only by Alice the Integrity Knight, and she was no longer present in the Underworld. 
Alice had transported Bercouli’s body by dragon, and Kirito had taken it from her at the World’s End Altar and delivered it back to the human realm. His remains now slept beneath a gravestone in the center of the garden in the southeast corner of the cathedral grounds. 
“…True, I didn’t perform a search of the place where Bercouli and Vecta fought. It would be hard to even identify the spot now…,” Kirito admitted. He turned and looked out the window. “But…if it was the jewel’s power that opened and closed the fiftieth-floor window, then you might be right: It could be Vecta’s jewel. That doesn’t explain who got it back and how…or who that man was…You mentioned the assassins guild in the throne room. What’s that organization like?” 
Iskahn gulped down his tea in one go and proclaimed with disgust, “Just what it sounds like: They perform assassinations for a living. They use poisons…The leader when the ten lords were around was a guy named Fu Za, and he died when General Shasta tried to stage a rebellion. That was a huge blow to the guild, and they’re not even part of the Council of Five now. I’d almost completely forgotten about them…But if the guy in the robe is from the assassins guild, and he’s got a minion doing his bidding, we’ve got a real fishy situation on our hands…” 
“We should do a full investigation on them and the missing dark mages,” Sheyta instructed. 
“Yes,” he agreed. “I intend to talk with the knighthood and the commerce guild, too. I don’t want any more nonsense happening in Obsidia.” 
Kirito leaned forward and suggested, “About that—shouldn’t we ask for the dark mages guild’s help? After hearing about what Dee Eye Ell did, I don’t necessarily blame you for giving the dark mages the cold shoulder…but I think you should try to repair that relationship and get them to guard the palace, too. With just armed guards, you’re too susceptible to dark arts.” 
“As usual, you have a way of saying just what I don’t want to hear,” Iskahn said with a grimace. He shrugged and admitted, “But I guess you have a point. If all the humans in Obsidia are at one another’s throats, we can’t expect to solve any problems with demi-humans…How long are you going to stay here, Kirito?” 
This time, it was Iskahn who was leaning forward and Kirito who was backing away. “I-I’d love to offer you all the help I can…but I’m going back to the human side tonight. We still haven’t solved the problem over there, either…” 
“Ah yes; that’s true. On the other hand, I haven’t been able to properly thank you for getting Leazetta back for us, and there’s so much good food to be had…” 
The sight of Iskahn pursing his lips like a child being deprived of playtime put a fond smile on Kirito’s face that also contained the faintest note of grief. 
“Wh-what’s that expression for?” 
“Oh…you just sounded like an old, old friend of mine, Iskahn. But look, the meeting’s still next month, right? We’ll come with a much bigger party next time.” 

“You bet! And get your stomach ready; I’ll put together a menu of delicacies that’ll make last night’s dinner look like nothing… At any rate, you were a huge boon to have here. I’ll never forget this debt I owe you for the rest of my life.” 
Iskahn stood up and stuck out his hand. Kirito straightened up and clasped it. From Sheyta’s arms, Leazetta giggled and laughed at the sight of them. 
After a few hours of sleep in their respective guest rooms, Kirito and Ronie ate a quick meal and left Obsidia Palace at eight o’clock in the evening. 
This time, they didn’t need to put anything on their faces or use Incarnation to fly. Sheyta flew them on Yoiyobi’s back to where the dragoncraft was hidden. 
Even reserved Sheyta looked stunned when she saw the steel dragon, but she grasped the capabilities of the dragoncraft right away. She said that she was looking forward to the day when such things would be mass-produced so that travel between the human realm and the Dark Territory would become easy. Then she returned to her home in the castle of obsidian, and Kirito and Ronie boarded the dragoncraft and flew into the western sky. 
When the craft was flying and stable, Kirito exhaled slowly in the front seat and said, “That Sonic Leap you pulled off to get Leazetta back from the kidnapper was incredible, Ronie. When did you get so good at it?” 
“Huh…I—I don’t know. I was just desperate…,” she stammered, tracing the silver hilt of her sword, which was resting between her seat and the wall. “I feel like…the sword gave me power. I would never be able to jump that distance under normal circumstances.” 
“I see…That means it’s a good sword.” 
“I know.” Ronie rested back against the seat. 
The windshield of the dragoncraft offered a view of the Dark Territory’s night sky as it flew quietly along. The stars were fewer in comparison to the human realm, but the moon was large and pale, a crescent slice in the sky directly overhead. 
Despite the huge distance between the places we live, the people on both sides are looking up at the same moon… 
At that very moment, she once again had the same eerie feeling that she’d gotten when she saw the sign on the inn in Obsidia and heard the melody of the bell tower. And this time, Ronie knew what it was. 
“Um…Kirito?” 
“What is it?” 
“Why do the human realm and the dark realm both use the same words and letters? There was almost no communication between the two worlds from the very birth of the Underworld, so you would think they’d have completely different languages…” 
It was something she’d never second-guessed before, but now that she had seen some of the great wide world for herself, she wanted to know the reason why it worked that way. 
The swordsman from the real world was silent for a while. Eventually, he said, “Let’s see…The real-worlders who created this place wanted the two realms to fight each other, so it should have been more convenient for their purposes to have the two worlds use completely different languages. After all, if you can’t understand each other, you can never find understanding and make peace. But they—or something aside from the real-worlders—intentionally shared the same language between them. I don’t know the reason why. But it’s possible that it was for the purpose of bringing about a world that managed to move beyond hostility and fighting……” 
Ronie found it hard to understand what he was saying. But she chose to keep thinking about it, rather than ask him to elaborate further. 
The moon in the sky was another huge sphere, just like their world, Kirito had said. That was why it glowed with the light from Solus and waxed and waned. 
If people lived on the moon, they would see the earth, where Ronie lived, as another glowing crescent. Would the people of the moon speak the same language, too? Like the people here, would they make many regrettable mistakes and shed blood but still do their best and wish for a better world? 
The crescent moon above felt like a cradle capable of nurturing much life now. She reached up toward it. 
But soon, she dropped her hand back to the hilt of her sword. “Um, Kirito?” 
“Hmm…?” 
“I’ve decided on a name for my weapon. I’ll call it the Moon…the Moonbeam Sword.” 
“I see. That’s a good name. I’m sure it will protect you well,” he said. She flashed a bright smile and agreed, then wiped away tears that had come to her eyes unbidden. 
I want to see Tiese, she realized. I want to go to my friend trapped between love for the late Eugeo and the proposal from Renly and tell her the things I learned and considered on this journey. 
Somehow, Kirito seemed to sense this desire of hers, because he picked up the speed of the dragoncraft just a bit. 
Like that, the steel dragon flew on and on to the west, gleaming in the pale moonlight. 
(The End)