Sword Art Online - Volume 25 - Chapter 11

11

The mechamobile Laurannei drove wasn’t a large black sedan like the one I took in, but a well-used white van. The interior and comfort level were very…practical, and the trip down the little cobbled road was quite noisy.

Four people couldn’t ride in the back seat of the sedan, and we were trying to keep a lower profile, but I couldn’t deny that I was a little disappointed I wouldn’t get to enjoy that smooth, luxurious ride again. On the lightly cushioned right seat of the third row, I told myself that I was going to ask his lordship the commander for a chance to drive the black one sometime.

In the middle row, Alice lamented to Asuna, “The first time I saw the roads of the real world, with the huge crowds of automobiles driving many times the speed of a horse-drawn carriage, I felt that I had come to a greatly advanced world, even if it did make me dizzy with how frenetic it was. And now there are metal carriages like this in the Underworld, too…”

“On the other hand, the mechamobiles here don’t produce harmful pollution like the autos over there,” I said, in an odd attempt to be helpful.

Eolyne, however, was not in the same state of mind. “But because of all the mechamobiles and coolers, scarcity of spatial resources is becoming a real problem. In fact, this summer, we had three separate instances of all the machines that run off of eternal elements shutting down together. They said it was because of many homes running their cooling simultaneously in the middle of the night, when Solus cannot provide more spatial power.”

I recalled that little Phercy had said the same thing. “But summer in Centoria isn’t so bad that you need to use cooling, is it?” I asked, the first thing that came to my mind. “We didn’t have coolers back at Swordcraft Academy’s dorms, of course, and it was easy to sleep at night…”

“While they are within range of common households now, coolers are still an expensive item to own. It’s only human nature to want to use something that costs you dearly to acquire,” Eolyne explained, which made sense to me.

Next, Asuna asked, “Does Centoria have power charges…? Or spatial resource charges, I guess?”

“Spatial resource charges…? Oh…you mean money that you spend to use those resources? No, of course not. Spatial resources are brought to us by nature, just like water and wind.”

“In the real world, people pay money to use water, too,” Alice informed him.

“Oh my,” he replied, looking at us with pity. “But…that might be a solution, I suppose. If we created a system to levy costs commensurate with the amount of resources used, we could curtail overuse of cooling. The problem would be how to measure the usage…”

The pilot commander and the council member devolved into muttering, so I hastened to cut him off.

“W-well, we can certainly discuss that another time.”

I really didn’t want to create a situation, much later in time, where the Underworld’s school textbooks contained the historical fact that it was a real-worlder named Kirito who introduced the concept of charging money for water and spatial power. That was not a reputation I wanted.

“More importantly, um…How high of a Perfect Weapon Control authority do you need to enter the Integrity Pilots?” I asked, recalling the question I meant to bring up earlier.

Eolyne shrugged. “There’s no actual requirement that you need to fulfill a certain value. First, you achieve high marks at school, then preferably earn a prize among the upper ranks of the Stellar Unification Combat Tournament, then enter the space force or ground force as a potential officer, and if you show keen talent in that environment, you can be recommended to take the test to be a pilot,” he explained smoothly, speaking up toward the front seat. “Stica, Laurannei, how old were you when you tied in the final of the Unification Tournament?”

“Twelve!” Stica responded from the passenger seat.

Laurannei, her hands on the steering wheel, added, “But I was the winner.”

“Wha…? No, you weren’t! If anything, I had you on the ropes.”

“Is that how you say ‘flailed around wildly’?”

“Grrrr!”

Their lighthearted bickering was very age appropriate, but if the Stellar Unification Combat Tournament was an expanded version of the Four-Empire Unification Tournament, being crowned co-champions at age twelve was beyond the level of genius. Not even the old Integrity Knights featured any talents that blossomed so early, as far as I knew.

In the back of my mind, I recalled the helpless smile on the face of Phercy Arabel—and his resignation over every aspect of his future.

He said he was only nine years old. His own sister triumphed at the greatest combat tournament in all of the Underworld when she was just three years older than that, but he couldn’t even execute an ultimate technique yet. It was hard to imagine how much despair he must have felt about that vast discrepancy. I told myself that someday I’d make time to sit down with Phercy and get to the bottom of the mystery that tormented him.

“When I triumphed in the Unification Tournament, I was sixteen,” said Eolyne, loud enough for the whole car to hear. “I suppose that both of you have surpassed me, as swordsmen and as operators.”

“N-no, sir! That’s not true!” insisted Stica, pausing in her fight with Laurannei. “We don’t even hold a candle to your transcendental swordfighting and piloting ability! You mustn’t say things like that!”

Keeping her eyes on the road, Laurannei added, “That’s right; it was just half a year ago that you faced us together—and easily handled us both. It will take us another ten years to surpass you.”

“N-no, we’ll never surpass him, Dummy Laura!”

“Actually, it’s rude to insist that it must be impossible, Crybaby Sti.”

In the row behind the bickering girls, Asuna and Alice laughed silently. Eolyne, meanwhile, just shook his head and sighed.

While they might look just like Ronie and Tiese, the quarreling was something that those girls never did, I couldn’t help but notice. And while my mind was wandering, I asked the commander, “By the way, what’s your authority level?”

“Huh…?”

Eolyne’s mouth hung open with surprise, and when I looked at him, a revelation struck my brain like a bolt of lightning.

In Eolyne Herlentz’s status pop-up—his Stacia Window—it would list not just his object control authority and system control authority, but also his human unit ID number.

And if Eolyne did happen to have some connection to Eugeo—if he just so happened to be the same person, missing his memory—then their ID numbers would match.

I would never forget it. He was NND7-6361, just six numbers off of mine, 6355. If that was the number that appeared in Eolyne’s window, then…

He gave me an odd look, noticing how I had frozen in place. “Hmmm,” he said, “I wonder how high it is…I don’t normally pay attention to my own.”

“…Then show me your Stacia Window,” I said as casually as I could. It earned me another one of his chagrined smirks.

“Listen, Kirito, I don’t know how things were two hundred years ago, but these days, the only people who insist on seeing others’ windows are guards who’ve mistakenly inflated their own importance.”

“Well…that was true back then, too…”

I had to fight a sudden urge to just grab Eolyne’s hand and force him to do the gesture. I didn’t know what to say.

“Tell you what. If you show me your window first, Kirito, I’ll show you mine.”

“……”

I held my breath at this unexpected turn of events. My stats? He was free to see however much he wanted; it didn’t mean anything to me.

Awkwardly, I bobbed my head, praying that my voice would sound casual and natural. “Okay, let’s do that, I guess. Here, I’ll show you mine first.”

I made an S-shape in the air with two fingers, then struck the back of my left hand with them. With a bell-like chime, a purple window appeared.

In the previous dive, I was forced to open it for the guards who’d come barging into the Arabel mansion, but I hadn’t actually checked on my own authority level at the time. So I leaned in close, bumping heads with Eolyne so we could peer into the small rectangle.

“Ah…You’ve got a very low ID number, as I’d expect you would. I’ve never seen anyone in the six-thousands before.”

The ID number NND7-6355 meant that I came from the NND7 area, which was in the far north of the realm, and that I was the six thousand three hundred and fifty-fifth person born there.

“The captain of the city guard said the same thing,” I replied, focusing on the right side of the window.

In fact, I hadn’t looked at these two values since around when I found the Integrity Knights at Central Cathedral. At the time, my OC (Object Control) level was around 50, and my SC (System Control) level was around 30. Maybe they’d gone up a bit…

But when I saw the actual values, my mouth made a weird little “Ueih?” sound.

There was no mistaking the numerals in the simple font. My OC authority was 29, and my SC authority was 07.

“I…I went down?! To twenty-nine and seven…,” I said, aghast. I looked at my hand, but there was nothing written on it, of course.

I guessed pedestrian numbers like these would explain why the whiskered captain hadn’t reacted to them. But everything else about it didn’t sit right with me. There was no way I could equip both the Night-Sky Blade and Blue Rose Sword at the same time with those numbers. And was it really right that they could go down? The Abyssal Horror didn’t have some level-draining ability, did it?

“Kirito…,” Eolyne whispered.

Dejected, I said, “I dunno…I’m sorry about these numbers. This should make it clear that I’m not the Star King, though, right?”

“It’s not that…Look here. Do you think that’s a tiny ‘1’ written there?”

“Huh? A tiny ‘1’…?”

Eolyne was pointing just to the left of the OC authority value on the Stacia Window. I leaned in closer and squinted.

Sure enough, between the square bracket around the value and the 2, there was what appeared to be a number 1, only half as large as the other numbers.

I shared a look with Eolyne, then glanced at the window again. “Wait…Are you saying that’s three digits, not two? So it’s not 29 and 7…it’s 129 and 107?”

“Yes…I suppose so. I didn’t know you could get over a hundred…,” Eolyne stated with quiet awe. He stared me in the eyes and added, “But if anyone could do it, I suppose the legendary Star King could.”

“………W-we don’t know that yet,” I said, feeling ashamed of how childish it sounded, and hastily closed the window. Anyway, whether it was two or three digits, my current authority level didn’t matter.

“Okay, your turn now,” I said, in what I hoped was a casual tone, but I couldn’t keep the last word from quavering.

Eolyne didn’t seem to notice or care and said, “Fine. But let me preface this by saying that I know my authority levels are nowhere near yours.”

With a smooth, practiced motion, he drew an S with his right hand and tapped his left. There was another chime sound, and his Stacia Window appeared.

My eyes were drawn to the unit ID in the upper left: NCD1-13091.

It was not at all similar to Eugeo’s unit ID, and I found myself gazing emptily at the number. After five seconds, or maybe ten, Eolyne said, just a bit peevishly, “You don’t have to be that disappointed. I warned you that they weren’t going to be close, didn’t I?”

“Huh? Oh…”

I came back to my senses and looked at the right side. His OC was 62 and his SC was 58. Both were only half of my own, but by the standards I was used to two centuries ago, they were extremely high. It was higher than mine back then—and the Integrity Knights’.

“No, those numbers were incredible. I can see why you’re the commander,” I told him, despite the numbness in my brain.

Eolyne smirked once again. “Well, coming from you, it sounds sarcastic…But I thank you for the kind words,” he murmured, closing his Stacia Window and leaning back into his chair. I faced forward and rested against the stiff seat back.

In the row ahead of us, Asuna and Alice were chatting pleasantly with the girls in the front. The mechamobile had already made its way back into Centoria, where expensive-looking cars were using the passing lane to zoom around us.

For an instant, I thought I saw flaxen hair in the passenger seat of a sedan and looked harder. But the car zipped past and was soon out of sight.

Just because his ID was different didn’t mean I should draw any direct conclusions from it.

But maybe it was time to admit something. Like in the real world, perhaps the Underworld could produce twin strangers, too. Perhaps I was just seeking a miracle in the midst of coincidence, a miracle that would not happen.

“…What’s the matter?”

The voice caused me to pull my eyes away from the window. That was when I felt that a single tear had tracked down my left cheek.

“Oh…it’s nothing,” I said, lifting my hand and brushing it away. The little droplet perched on my finger for a moment, then melted away into nothing.

On Eolyne’s orders, Laurannei turned the white mechamobile left off the main street and into a parking lot in the corner of a busy commercial area.

He took us to a small but rather comfortable restaurant located in a quiet backstreet with little foot traffic. There were no other customers because it was too early for lunch. When the chef and waitress saw the Integrity Pilot uniforms, they greeted us warmly, and for the first time in a long time, I got to enjoy some North Centorian cooking. Eolyne paid the tab for six lunches, and I found it quite entertaining to see how self-conscious Alice felt about this, for some reason.

Back in the car, we returned to the main street. This time we took no detours but headed straight for the gigantic white tower directly ahead of us. Once we reached the tall walls around it, we turned left to circle around to the south gate.

In the days of the Axiom Church, even nobles and emperors could not enter Central Cathedral grounds, much less common people. But now the south gate was open, and the mechamobile rolled right through to the interior without so much as a security check.

Human and demi-human tourists alike were strolling leisurely throughout the garden, which still retained its old look. The mechamobile turned left down the road that traveled along the inside of the wall, until after a while, it turned right.

With a sudden shock, Alice exclaimed, “The dragon stables are gone!”

Indeed, the huge stables that existed on the western side of the tower two centuries ago had completely vanished, and a parking lot now stood where they had once been.

“What happened to the dragons?!” she asked, turning back in horror.

Anticipating this question, Eolyne said calmly, “According to our records, at the same time that the Integrity Knights were sealed away, half the dragons kept at Central Cathedral were returned to their habitat in Wesdarath, while the other half were sealed with the knights. Even today, many dragons live in their protected area in the western ranges of Wesdarath, in their natural way.”

“Oh…I see,” said Alice, her face softening. “But what exactly does this sealing mean? How does it work?”

“…I’m sorry, Lady Alice, but even I do not know. But as long as we get into the upper floors of the cathedral, everything should become clear.”

“……Yes, I agree,” she whispered, facing forward again.

A few seconds later, the car reached the back of the parking lot, did a quick and practiced turn, and backed perfectly into a spot.

It was just past eleven o’clock in the morning. Dr. Koujiro gave us a hard time limit to return again, this time at five in the afternoon. So we had six hours to work with, I calculated—and then finally realized a huge problem.

“Um…Eolyne,” I called out to the commander, who had just gotten out of the car.

“What is it?”

“Um…I hate to bring this up so belatedly, but Asuna and Alice and I can’t be in the Underworld past five in the evening again. We’ll be able to come back tomorrow morning, most likely. But I’m guessing we won’t reach Admina in another six hours, will we…?”

“Hmmm…” Eolyne glanced up at the top of Central Cathedral. “It depends on the time we leave and the capabilities of the X’rphan Mk. 13, but I think in terms of actual travel, we’ll make it.”

“W-wow, for real…?” I stammered, accidentally slipping into some language that was definitely not native to the Underworld. But this being a virtual world, there was no reason that the scale of outer space had to be the same as reality. Supposedly it was a six-hour flight one way with a passenger jet, so if Cardina and Admina were closer than I suspected, then maybe…But no, even still, there was no way we could complete the investigation of the intruder and make it back to Centoria in time.

I wanted to explain all this to him, but Eolyne spoke first. “I think we might be able to solve your stay limitations, however.”

“Huh? Wh-what do you mean…?”

“I’ll explain later,” he promised, then walked over to the two girls, who were standing at attention along the left side of the mechamobile. “Well done, you two. I don’t know when my task will be over, so you may return to the base for today.”

Stica promptly straightened her back and remarked, “No, my lord, we will accompany you until your business is complete!”

Laurannei joined in. “We have permission to be out until the end of the day, so lateness is no concern!”

“Wh-what? Really?”

““Really!!””

Meanwhile, I pulled the bag of swords out of the luggage space. Asuna approached and whispered, “That’s one area where they’re just like Tiese and Ronie.”

“Seriously…,” I agreed.

On my right, Alice murmured, “Actually, I would say that they’re much closer to you and Eugeo.”

“Huh?”

“I think you two rubbed off on Ronie and Tiese, and that influence made its way down to these girls.”

“…”

It seemed far-fetched, but I couldn’t rule it out. When we were primary trainees at the academy, we argued in all kinds of obnoxious ways with our dorm supervisor, Miss Azurica. Although usually it was me doing the arguing and Eugeo getting caught in the backlash.

If Alice’s idea was accurate, then the spirit of rebelliousness the girls were exhibiting against Eolyne came from me. On the inside, I gave the harried commander a silent “Sorry about that.” Eventually, however, Eolyne gave in, and the three of them came our way.

“Well, let’s go,” he said, walking toward the garage exit with the two pilots. We exchanged secret smiles and hurried after them.

Of course, Central Cathedral itself wasn’t open to the public; a menacing security gate loomed over the entrance to the building.

Eolyne approached the gate, where guards stood in white uniforms with thin swords hanging from their belts. He pulled what looked like an identification card from beneath his cloak and showed it to the worker inside the booth. For a moment, I wondered if the Integrity Pilot commander and Steller Unification Council member didn’t get in on sight because of the mask. But the worker checked his identification diligently, so it seemed that this was the ordinary treatment.

I started to worry that this meant we’d be asked for identification next, but the Integrity Pilot uniforms did the trick. Stica, Laurannei, Alice, and Asuna were allowed to pass through the gate without question. As the only one wearing a different uniform, I earned some glares from the guards, but they did not ask me to show them my bag or stop me from passing through.

We crossed the large entrance area, and I only allowed myself to exhale once we were a good distance away from the gate. Eolyne whispered, “I’m sorry about that, Kirito.”

“F-for what…?”

“I explained that you were my luggage-carrying servant. It was the only way to get you through.”

“Oh, I see. Well, it’s way better than being treated like the Star King…,” I insisted.

“Let’s hurry,” said Alice. Her voice was just a bit ragged.

I couldn’t blame her for feeling hasty. The moment she’d been waiting on for months was nearly within her grasp.

“Very well. Come this way,” said Eolyne, quickly crossing the empty hall. Alice and Asuna proceeded behind him, with Stica, Laurannei, and me in the rear.

The great hall on the first floor of the cathedral still featured the marble walls and pillars I remembered, but the furnishings were quite different. Most attention-grabbing were the massive tapestries that hung from each of the four walls. The mark on them, blue on white, was the Stellar Unification Council’s logo, symbolizing Solus, Cardina, and Admina. Near the tip, the small symbol of two swords and two types of flowers arranged in a diamond shape was the insignia of the Star King, I was told.

The great stairs at the other end of the entrance hall were split into right and left sides, with a small fountain trickling pleasantly a little ways before them. I felt as though there had originally been just one staircase and no fountain, but I supposed that in the course of two hundred years, some renovations were bound to happen.

After circling around the rather aged marble fountain, I saw that there were three doors on the far wall, which I took to be elevators.

Two centuries ago, Central Cathedral had an elevator—which was called the levitation shaft—but it only connected the fiftieth to eightieth floors, and in order to get up to the fiftieth floor, you had to take the stairs. The levitation shaft was operated manually by a girl called the Operator. So did they…just increase the number of operators?

But even if that was the case, they would at least be taking shifts, unlike before. In fact, I prayed that it was so as we walked up to the doors, and Stica pressed a round button on the wall. The center door slid open to both sides, and thankfully, the interior was empty.

Over the centuries, they had automated the elevator. I thanked whoever had kick-started that process as I followed the other five in.

Originally, the levitating platform had been circular, but it was now a square, like in the real world. There was still room to spare, even with six of us riding it. The doors closed with a faint mechanical rattle. Next to them was a panel with three rows of metal buttons.

The numbers on the buttons went from one to seventy-nine. As Eolyne said, there was no button to take us to the eightieth floor.

“So…what now?” I asked quietly.

Eolyne fixed me with a look. “I was thinking that maybe something would happen if you got on…”

“I don’t know why you would think that…”

I looked around the box, but nothing noteworthy was happening. If we kept waiting for something to happen, someone else was bound to get into the elevator with us.

“Um…Maybe we should go up to the seventy-ninth floor,” I suggested, reaching for the top button—but held my finger back before I pressed it.

“What is it?” asked Asuna.

“I don’t know…,” I murmured, staring at the control panel. The numbers started at the bottom with 1-2-3, then 4-5-6. By that pattern, the top row should be 76-77-78, with 79 left over on its own.

But on the top row of the panel, there was only 78 and 79, side by side. That was because the bottom row had just 1 and 2, before resuming with three each: 3-4-5, 6-7-8, and so on.

“Eolyne…do the other elevators—er, levitating platforms—have the same button arrangement?” I asked.

The commander’s round hat bobbed. “We call them levitators, actually. Hmm…I’m not sure. I’ve never really paid attention to that.”

“I’ll go and see!”

“Me too!”

Stica and Laurannei opened the door and bolted out. After ten seconds, they came back and reported the results as soon as the door was closed again.

“The right levitator only has the seventy-ninth button on the top row!”

“Same for the left levitator!”

“Thank you both,” I said, examining the panel once more. Only the middle box had a different button layout. Was that a consequence of the way they were made—or was it done that way by design?

I reached out and touched the metal plate to the right of where the 79 button sat.

“…!”

Immediately, I sucked in a sharp breath.

It was very faint, but I could feel it. There was another button hidden behind the silver panel.

I leaned in close enough that my nose was nearly touching the panel, but there was absolutely no seam in the metal. In order to press it, I would have to risk the use of Incarnation.

Incarnation was the power of imagination. It would be very easy for me in my current state to move or change the shape of objects without using my hands. But that involved the process of looking at the object and using my imagination to shape it. That wouldn’t be easy when the button was hidden behind the thick metal plate. If I was too clumsy with my application of power, I could easily break it.

What idiot came up with this horrible contraption? I grumbled to myself, using the barest minimum of imagination to see through the panel, envelop the invisible button, and press it.

There was a little thunk and rumble beneath our feet and then the hiss of a wind element being expelled below the floor.

The elevator began to rise, and Stica and Laurannei both exclaimed, “Wow!”

The automated levitating platform, or levitator, rose through the cathedral two or three times faster than the platform had in the old era when it was controlled manually. There was no floor readout, but a little bell rang with each floor that we passed.

It would have been trouble if someone else got on, but I guessed that pressing the hidden button would send it straight up like an express. We rose smoothly past the thirtieth floor, then the fortieth. The only downside was that, unlike the shaft from two hundred years ago, there were no windows here to offer a view of the outside.

The girl who operated the platform that took Eugeo and me up said that if she was ever released from her duty, she wanted to use the platform to fly freely through the sky.

She was probably no longer alive. As I counted the bell chimes, I closed my eyes and prayed that her wish had come true.

After a while, the levitator’s ascent began to slow, and right as it came to a stop, the eightieth—er, seventy-ninth bell rang.

The doors slid open, revealing a dark hallway. There was no human presence here.

“Is this…the eightieth floor…?” Eolyne murmured, fear thick in his voice.

I gave him a prod. “Let’s get off before the levitator starts moving back down.”

“R…right.”

He walked out of the box, followed by the other five of us. The hallway had not been cleaned in ages; thick white dust piled up on the floor, and our steps sent it wafting upward like smoke. Thankfully, dust in the Underworld was only treated like a visual effect and caused no distress if breathed in.

Alice ran forward several paces, kicking up dust, and shouted in a quavering voice, “I know it…This is the hallway that leads to the eightieth floor of Central Cathedral…the Cloudtop Garden!”

I remembered it, too. In perceived time, it was only two months ago that Eugeo and I had stepped off the levitating platform and walked this corridor.

At the time, I had told Eugeo, We’ve come all this way to put a stop to Administrator. But that’s not the end of it, Eugeo. The real problem is what comes after…

Puzzled by my lack of specifics, Eugeo had asked, Weren’t we going to leave things up to Cardinal after we beat Administrator?

I put off answering that question. I promised to tell him more after we’d taken back Alice, and I never got the chance to reveal the truth to him: that I was not a lost child of Vecta, but a human being from the real world by the name of Kazuto Kirigaya. That I wasn’t a swordsman in that other world, but an ordinary, awkward child who had no real skills aside from gaming. That he was the only real friend I had who was a boy around my age.

“Hurry, Kirito!” Alice called, bringing me back to my senses. The five of them were already several yards ahead. I exhaled, squeezed the handle of the bag, and began to walk after them.

The large marble doors at the end of the short hallway seemed just as I remembered them, except for one thing that hadn’t been there before: a strange metal pillar about three feet tall, coming up out of the ground just in front of the doors. The top was completely flat, with four nondescript slits in it. No other writing or buttons.

Alice gave the pillar a glance, then walked past it to the doors, as if she couldn’t be bothered to waste time with such a thing.

“…I’m going to open this up,” she declared, putting her hands on the pure-white marble. The force lifted a tiny amount of dust, but the life value of the door did not seem diminished in the least.

Even through the pilot’s uniform, it was clear that Alice was putting all her effort into it. But the door did not budge. When Eugeo and I were here, we pushed it right open, but Alice, whose OC Authority was far higher than ours would have been back then, couldn’t even get a creak with all of her strength.

“Rrh…gkh…!”

Asuna rushed up on Alice’s left, and I dropped the bag so I could run and help. I put both hands on the right-side door and said, “Heave-ho!” With all three of us going together, I gave maximum effort.

It didn’t move the tiniest bit.

The door was unbelievably tough. My OC number was a preposterous 129 right now. And that was affected by defeating the legendary Abyssal Horror, so Asuna and Alice could easily have risen in a similar manner as a consequence of that event.

If all three of us pushing together didn’t make the slightest difference, then this wasn’t just locked. There was some systematic power at work, some law of the world. I might be able to interfere with that using Incarnation but pushing a button in an elevator was one thing; using enough to destroy this door would undoubtedly set off all the Incarnameters in Centoria.

“Asuna, Alice,” I said, calling them off. I took a step away from the door.

First Asuna, then Alice stopped pushing. The latter’s pale cheeks were flushed painfully with longing and haste. I clapped her on the shoulder.

“I’m guessing that pillar behind us is the key…or the keyhole, I should say.”

“But…we don’t have any keys!” she wailed.

Asuna put a hand on her back next. “Let’s take a look at it first. You’ve experienced many things like this in ALO by now, haven’t you?”

“……Yes…,” Alice admitted. We went back to the mysterious metal object.

Eolyne had already spent some time examining it. He took a step back and said, “Unfortunately, I have no idea what this is for.”

“Based on the dust, I’m guessing it was installed here before you were born,” I said, taking a look at the top of the pillar.

The metal panel was covered with dust, though not as much as the floor, with four slits cut into it. Each was about two inches long and a third of an inch wide…But upon closer inspection, I could see that the sizes were slightly different for each one. But even the smallest was about one inch by a quarter inch, which, if meant for a key, was a very large key, indeed. And there was no way to rotate it.

Was it not a key that was meant to go inside? Like a metal card…or something longer, like…

“““Swords!!””” the three of us said in unison.

After sharing a quick look with them, I leaped over to the leather bag resting on the ground nearby. My fingers felt stiff as I undid the six buckles in order, threw the top open, and reached inside.

The first I grabbed was Radiant Light, which I handed to Asuna. Then I took out the Osmanthus Blade and gave it to Alice.

They stood before the pillar and drew their swords from the sheaths together. Behind them, Laurannei and Stica exclaimed with muted wonder.

I pulled out my two swords and shouted, “There should only be one slot each sword fits! Don’t try to jam it into a spot that isn’t right!”

“I know that!” Alice shouted back, holding the Osmanthus Blade upside down. She aimed for one of the slots, carefully putting the tip to the slot, and slid it in.

There was no certainty that the keys were our particular swords. Especially Alice’s, since she had logged out of the Underworld before the Star King’s reign began. In that sense, it might as well have been impossible to fashion a crevice that perfectly matched the Osmanthus Blade.

Despite the probability, I was certain these were the right swords. They had to be.

Shiiiing…With a smooth, cool sound, the golden blade sank into the depths of the pillar. Once about 70 percent of the blade was trapped inside the slot, there was a satisfying little click.

She took a few steps back without a word. Asuna took her place and put Radiant Light into another slot without a moment’s hesitation. This one, too, sank about 70 percent in before it clicked.

I stuck both of my swords on my belt and stood up. There was a satisfying, familiar weight on me as I stood before the pillar. I grabbed each one backhanded and drew them, lifting the hilts high into the air.

In my right hand was the Night-Sky Blade. In my left was the Blue Rose Sword.

Behind me, I could sense Eolyne holding his breath. As a matter of fact, this would be the first time he ever saw the swords. But I stayed focused on the pillar and stepped forward.

Of the four slots in the line, Asuna’s and Alice’s swords occupied the two in the center. I pressed the tips of my two swords to the two outer slots and slowly but decisively slid them inside.

Both clicked together, and then a louder, more metallic clank! filled the hallway.

A golden line appeared down the middle of the marble doors behind the pillar.

They opened on their own, rumbling all the while. Bright light flooded into the gloomy corridor, filling my vision with white.

With a deeper rumble, the doors stopped at last.

Alice slipped past me and raced toward the overflowing golden light. Asuna followed her.

I let go of the swords’ hilts and followed the two, the footsteps of Eolyne and the girls sounding behind my back. Once through the doorway, my nose was filled with a sweet and pleasant scent.

Light diffused and returned color to my eyes.

Green.

There was such a vivid cavalcade of green that it was difficult to remember we were inside a tall, tall tower. Just ahead was a green meadow covered with short, thick, soft grass, beyond which was a little brook and a wooden bridge crossing it that led to a gentle hill. This was the eightieth floor of Central Cathedral, the Cloudtop Garden.

The place where Eugeo and I were reunited with Alice the Integrity Knight and did battle.

Just like then, there was a single leafy tree standing atop the hill.

And at the roots…sitting down and leaning against the trunk, her eyes closed, was a girl.

In fact, it wasn’t just one. Two other women stood to either side, as though guarding her.

Despite the way the gentle breeze rustled the grass that covered the hill, the occasional flower, and the branches overhead, the clothes and hair of the three figures did not move the slightest bit. They did not have the texture of the living. They had been petrified.

Even still, there was no mistaking the face of the sitting girl. She was more grown than how I remembered her, but I knew the gentle expression on those sleeping features.

Alice stumbled a step forward, then another, pressing her hands to her chest, and called out the figure’s name, her voice thick with emotion.

“……Selka!!”

(To be continued)