Sword Art Online - Volume 21 - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The chapter begins with Silica and Lisbeth eating a soup with minced meat... and the grass ropes that they had spent so much time crafting (basically used like pasta). After Lisbeth chewed some of the grass and described the taste (referencing "shirodatsu", some food ingredient Silica did not know about), Silica reluctantly tried some of her own. It didn't really have much of a taste, but it didn't feel all that unusual as food either. The taste seemed familiar to Silica and, after some deeper probing of her memories, she recalled some food she had eaten with her grandfather in Saga prefecture called "niimoji". The two girls got into an argument regarding what the foodstuff is called, until Yui explained they both referred to the same thing - both shirodatsu and niimoji were just dialectal words for "zuiki" (taro stems).

Yui then got into technicalities on what it is and how it's cooked, though she has never tasted it herself. Lisbeth then concluded that since the taste and texture of food in The Seed games comes from real world examples, the taste for the grass they were eating had to come from actual taro stems. The two girls still clung to their dialectal names for the thing though. Silica then tried feeding some of it to Pina on her lap. The dragon apparently didn't mind the taste. Anyway, the three girls + 1 dragon were sitting in a corner of a ~10 m wide circular tent. On a fur rug; kinda like a seat of honour.

The tent had a large (sunken) hearth in the middle, with Bashin adults and children sitting in a ring around it and eating their own meals... made from the 60 pieces of grass ropes that the girls had crafted. The girls had offered the grass to the tribesmen as a sort of lodging fee for their stay. The tribesmen happily accepted it, as they apparently find the grass to be quite a delicacy. When Silica finished emptying her bowl, the spearman from before (now without a spear) came over to her, offering a refill (they were still communicating through Yui, of course). Since Lisbeth whispered that it would be rude to decline, Silica accepted the offer.

The spearman said something with a smile before going towards the hearth. Yui hesitated for a moment to translate what he said. Since, apparently, what he said was... "For a Fellian girl, you sure are a glutton." Of course, Silica took issue with it, seeing as the man was the one to offer a refill. After elbowing Liz for laughing at her, Silica decided to ask what a "Fellian" was. Yui had no entry for it, so she concluded that it was the name of another tribe in this world. At that point, Lisbeth speculated that if there were other tribes, there was the possibility that there were more advanced towns, as big as the Town of Beginnings, somewhere.

The Basin tribe, as it appears, only had one big tent and 7 small ones, so it wasn't even big enough to be called a village. And they appeared to be nomads, so they didn't stay in one place all the time. Meanwhile, it didn't seem like they'd get info or equipment from this area either. The girls already knew the time limit for the leniency period, as Yui had come to the same conclusion about the menu as Alice. They had less than 30 mins left. By then, the girls needed to get some lighter equipment, or they'd be overburdened by the weight of their current ones. But at this rate, they'd end up having to go out in their underwear... though it apparently wasn't much different from what the Basin women were wearing anyway.

But even if there were some towns around, the girls assumed that monsters could be found on the road. So, despite having 4 hours of leniency, the girls had already been at their wit's end getting materials for a simple shelter, let alone acquiring new equipment. At that moment, Silica remarked that Lisbeth's Blacksmith skill ended up useless to them. "Well, sooorry for leveling my Blacksmith skill more than my Mace skill", pouted Lisbeth. Silica responded by pinching Lisbeth's upper arm, claiming to be relying on her.

While the two continued messing around, the spearman returned with the bowl. As Silica returned to eating, the spearman seemed to ask Lisbeth and Yui whether they wanted a refill too, but they passed. Just as the man was about to go away, Yui suddenly asked him something. The girls couldn't understand what they were saying, but the man returned to the hearth. Apparently, Yui asked the man if their tribe had any spare armour they could lend to them. The girl learnt that the tribe didn't really have anything they didn't need... but were open to the prospect of a trade.

Silica began analysing what they had on them.. realising that they didn't really have anything they'd be willing to put up for trade. However, Yui at that point explained that the tribe wasn't as interested in equipment... as in manpower, or more specifically, extra combat force. The spearman, who was apparently named Tajiru, had told Yui that they had seen another "star" aside from Aincrad fall. It was smaller and fell to the north-east rather than the south like Aincrad. They were planning to go investigate it for demons as well. So, if the girls would assist them on the expedition, they'd be willing to give them weapons and armour.

Of course, nobody knew that the "small star" was just Kirito and Asuna's log house. So, while the girls deduced that the star could just be a fragment of Aincrad, Lisbeth doubted that a fragment could have fallen so far away from the castle itself. Yui explained that it was actually possible, as The Seed VRMMOs' air resistance was set to be higher than in real life. To prevent psychological shocks from great falls, as it could result in the AmuSphere's safeties kicking players out. Thus, even big objects that were in a favourable shape could glide through the air for quite some time. Though, this would require the intervention of a player. Silica brought up the possibility of there being a (part of a) town on that fragment. If so, they could possibly get some equipment or consumables from there. Lisbeth couldn't deny the possibility entirely, but she was more sceptical about it.

Either way, Silica pointed out that there was the possibility of finding some materials that they couldn't get in their current area there. And even if they didn't find anything, they'd at least get equipment for helping out. At that point, Lisbeth pointed out how calculating Silica was. But she still agreed with her viewpoint and asked Yui to tell Tajiru that they'd help. So, Yui went to the guy at the hearth and brought a smile to his face when she told him about their decision. But just as Silica was assured that their negotiation was successful, a shout came from the entrance. Apparently, a taller and burlier than any other Basin.... female warrior... had walked forcefully into the tent.

She was wearing only leather armour on her chest and waist, so she showed more skin than any other female there. The woman walked to the hearth in big steps and shouted like a husky to the spearman. It seemed that the woman outranked the spearman. The woman occasionally looked over at Silica and co, showing clear hostility towards them. Eventually, the spearman nodded. At that moment, Yui rushed back to the girls and explained what was going on.

Apparently, the woman was named «Izelma»... and she was the leader of the camp. And she wanted the girls to show her what they were capable of if they wanted to take part in the scouting mission. Silica had no clue how to do that, while Lisbeth conjectured that this was an event battle.... so, she delegated Silica for the job. Seeing as Lisbeth imported the Blacksmith skill, rather than a weapon skill, from ALO. Silica was nonetheless disheartened that she had to go into battle despite being a level 1... and regretted not farming scorpions and stuff to level up. Anyway, Silica resolved to quickly resign the moment she lost more than 30... make that 20% of her HP, as she gave Pina to Yui. The dragon landed on Yui's head, as Yui wished Silica luck, while Lisbeth gave her a thumbsup.

Silica headed to the centre of the tent, while the Bashin people stepped back to the edge of the tent, leaving only Izelma at the hearth. Upon approaching Izelma, Silica realised just how massive Izelma was. Apparently, she seemed bigger than even Agil. Silica would have preferred to just talk it out, but she had less than 10 minutes left, after which she'd be rendered immobile by her equipment. At that point, she wouldn't even be able to dream of beating Izelma. As Silica stared at Izelma, she realised that the latter didn't have any weapons on her. Just as Silica began to think that Izelma would be going bare-handed, the Basin woman abruptly squatted down... and picked up an unused firewood from a corner of the hearth.

Assuming that Izelma planned to fight with a stick, Silica wondered if she should pick up one herself. However, that wasn't Izelma's intention. Staring at Silica, she bellowed something. Yui translated that Izelma will be throwing the piece of firewood... and she was expecting Silica to slice it into two equal pieces midair. This caused Silica to reflexively ask if that really was all to it. Anyway, the two seemed to communicate through facial expressions at that point, so Izelma threw the firewood, urging Silica to show what she had if she was so self-confident.

Silica's right hand moved self-automatically, extracting her dagger from the sheath on the left side of her waist. At that point, the firewood began to fall, rolling in midair. Silica pulled her dagger to the right side of her waist and slightly twisted her wrist, triggering a Sword Skill. Suddenly taking a breath in, Izelma stepped back.

At that point, Silica unleashed her Sword Skill, «Fad Edge». The narration explained that "Fad" meant "whim". Although the skill was somewhat lacking in precision, Silica was able to manually correct it due to the long time she had spent practicing the skill. The collision sent a shockwave through the tent. The firewood stopped midair for a moment. Just as Silica returned her dagger to its sheath in a flash... the stick split... into five pieces midair without a sound. Meanwhile, before Izelma, with her mouth wide open, could say a thing, a loud cheer came from the audience and the kids rushed over to them. Looking at the children's faces as they shouted something, Silica wished she could learn their language soon.