Chapter 4
Watching Kirito fight, Lyfa was half-awed and half-stunned.
They were in the skies over the expanse of Ancient Forest in northeastern Sylph territory; a little further and they would pass into the vicinity of the plateau. Sylvain was already so far behind them that no matter how much you strained your eyes, the jade tower could not be seen.
They were pushing through the depths of the so-called neutral zone, so the spawned monsters were powerful and considerably high-leveled. Kirito was currently fighting three one-eyed winged-lizard monsters, «Evil Glancer», simultaneously. Their strength was about equal to the boss monsters of lower level dungeons in Sylph territory.
Besides their basic strength, the real trouble was that their big, purple eyes could release the «Evil Eye» attack – a type of curse magic that would significantly reduce one's stats for a period of time when it hit. Lyfa was maintaining her distance and acting as a support role. Whenever a curse hit Kirito, Lyfa would incant the counter spell, but honestly whether or not the need existed was up in the air.
To Kirito who gripped the greatsword reaching near his height, the words defense and evasion did not exist in his dictionary; and as if to display this berserk style, the lizards were dropped one after another. He simply didn't care about the likes of the lizards' tails' long-distance attacks; as he swung the greatsword while charging, many lizards would be caught in the gale at once, getting hewed into little pieces. With the terrible might of the blows, what was at first five lizards had diminished to one just like that. The last one tried to run away at around 20% HP. It let out a pitiable scream as it sought to take refuge in the forest, but Lyfa raised her left hand, activating a long range homing-type vacuum magic. Four or five boomerang-like blades made of green light quickly caught up to the lizard and cut it to shreds. Shortly afterward, the blue reptile's large body scattered into blue polygons of light, signalling the quick end of the fifth fight of the day.
A large metallic sound accompanied the sheathing of the sword, Lyfa raised her right hand as she saw Kirito lightly approaching in the air.
"Good work—"
"Thanks for the cover—"
Their hands met in a high-five, and the two exchanged smiles.
"But how should I describe it... your combat style is just so reckless."
Hearing Lyfa say that, Kirito scratched his head.
"I-Is that so?"
"Generally, it is a good idea to use hit and run tactics for evasion, but you just hit and hit!"
"In return we can finish faster, so isn't it fine?"
"That might work in situations with similar monsters like today, but not if you run into a group of monsters with a combination of melee and long-range types, for example. If we end up fighting a player party they will definitely use magic so you have to be careful."
"Magic—? Can't I just avoid it?"
"There are many types of long-range magic; for power-type magic that go straight, you can read its direction to avoid it, but for homing and area attack magic that's impossible. In the case that there is a mage that uses these types of magic, you have to always maintain a high speed and time your direction changes."
"Hmmm.... Seems like there is a lot to remember."
Kirito scratched his head with a face like that of a child given a difficult set of problems to solve.
"Well, if it's you then you should be able to catch on quickly...I think. You seem to have very good intuition and sharp eyes after all. Do you do sports or something in real life?"
"N-no, not at all."
"Hmm.... Well, okay. Let's get moving."
"Okay."
They nodded to each other, then started beating their wings and resumed movement. Under the setting sun, the golden-green grasslands were beginning to emerge beyond the forest.
Without encountering any monsters after that, the two finally got out of Ancient Forest and entered the mountain area. Just as they neared the limit of their flight time, they descended onto a meadow's edge at the foot of a mountain.
As her soles slid on the grass while landing, Lyfa lifted both of her arms and took a big stretch. Even though the real body doesn't have such limbs, the base of the wings feels mysteriously fatigued after long flights. A few seconds later, Kirito also landed and was similarly hitting his straightened back.
"Fufu, tired yet?"
"Nope, still not yet!"
"Okay, let's do our best. ...Is what I want to say, but we're going to have to postpone the aerial travel for a while."
Kirito raised his eyebrows at Lyfa's remark.
"Eh, why?"
"Do you see that mountain?"
Lyfa pointed to the far end of the meadow, towards the towering, snow-peaked mountains.
"Flying is restricted by a height limit. We cannot fly higher than that mountain, so we have to pass through a cave tunneled through the mountain range. That seems to be the most dangerous place when traveling from Sylph territory to Aarun. I'm not sure because this is my first time here too."
"I see.... This tunnel, is it long?"
"Considerably, but there is a neutral mining town in the middle, and we should be able to rest there. Kirito-kun, until what time are you still okay?"
Kirito summoned the menu window with his left hand, checked the clock, and nodded.
"The real time right now is seven-o'-clock at night, I'm fine for now."
"I see, then let's try for a bit longer then. We should 'Rotate Out' once here."
"Ro-Rotate?"
"Ah, we take turns to logout and rest. Because this is a neutral zone, we can not logout instantly. Therefore, one person will logout while the other defends the avatar when it falls into the soulless state."
"I see, understood. Lyfa, please go first."
"Well then, I'll gladly accept your kind offer. I'll be in your care for about 20 minutes!"
Finished, Lyfa brought up the window and pressed the logout button. When she touched the warning message's YES button, the surrounding landscape streamed into a central point and disappeared.
Sitting straight up in bed after waking up, Suguha removed the Amusphere and jumped out of bed. Quietly running down the stairs, Suguha confirmed that the first floor was empty. The magazine's final proofreading day was nearing so Midori had not returned home yet, and Kazuto was probably in his room, so the first floor was silent.
Opening the refrigerator, Suguha took out two bagels, ham, cream cheese, and vegetables one after another. Quickly slicing the round bread in half, she spread a thin layer of mustard, added the ham, inserted the rest, and then transferred the completed bagel sandwich to a plate. After she poured some milk into a small milk pan and put it on the stove, Suguha went to the stairs, and facing the second floor, shouted:
"Onii-chan, do you want something to eat?"
...But there was no answer. He must be asleep, she shrugged her shoulders as she returned to the kitchen. She poured the now-steaming milk into a mug and took it to the living room table with the plate. After all of ninety seconds, she finished her dinner. Placing the dishes into the washing machine, she ran into the bathroom. Even if it was the virtual world, if you did intense fighting, you would sweat due to stress. After a long dive she started to feel sticky if she didn't wash and change clothes.
Suguha took off her clothes and jumped into the shower at supersonic speed, warm water slowly dripping through the shower head.
In fact, if she played VRMMO too much so that it interfered with eating and bathing, or if she ordered takeout, her mother Midori would scold her, so she tried not to join long party events. However, this time she couldn't do so. She would probably travel with Kirito tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow if it went badly. Maybe due to her personality, Suguha couldn't stand long duration parties, when the day changed she would feel uncomfortable, but for some mysterious reason it didn't happen this time. In this case...
...She was very excited.
Suguha thought as she closed her eyes and felt the soothing touch of the hot water on her skin.
Opening her eyes, her black pupils stared back from within the mirror before her. Within them, there was a mix of excitement and slight unease.
The physique of the real Suguha was by no means big for a kendo practitioner, even so when compared to the wind spirit Sylph, Lyfa, she was obviously big-boned. Her shoulders, stomach and her thighs, whenever she moved them, the line of the muscles seemed to stand out, on top of that she felt that her chest had grown alot recently.
This body has a real feel to it, but deep in my heart there is conflict growing. Suguha closed her eyes again.
...It did not particularly mean that she had become fond of him. It was not about having someone to adventure together... just that, flying in a new world was fun.
That seemed to be muttered in her heart, but that wasn't for the sake of convincing herself, there was truth in it.
Thinking back, she had such a feeling everyday in the past.
As she grew stronger, little by little her field of activities expanded; just flying in the sky of an unknown land made her heart throb. However, as she was raised to the role of a prominent senior player within the Sylph territory, her knowledge and obligations simultaneously increased too. Before she knew it, she was buried within the habits of everyday life. The said duty of battling for the sake of the entire race was holding her wings with invisible chains.
Players in ALO who abandoned their territory were called «Renegades», the English meaning of «Apostates». Those who discarded their obligation after obtaining them, those who are under pressure by their country, until now gave the impression that they are traitors, might have some kind of pride in their heart.
With her mind still thinking about them, she washed her hair and body quickly then rinsed away the foam. Removing the dry towel from the hatch on the wall, she used the control panel next to it, and a burst of warm air blew out from the slits in the ceiling. When her hair was mostly dry, she wrapped her body with a towel and went to the living room. Looking at the clock, there were less than three minutes before the agreed time limit.
She wrapped up the remaining bagel-sandwich on the plate, took some paper and wrote, "Onii-chan, if you are hungry please eat this," on it, and placed it under the plate.
Back on the second floor, she hastily put on her pajamas, laid back down, and put the Amusphere helmet back on.
After waiting through the connection process, through the rainbow colors of the login procedures, Suguha / Lyfa felt the prairie breeze and smelled a refreshing aroma.
From her waiting state, crouching down on one knee, Lyfa stood up and asked.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, did any monsters appear?"
Kirito, who was lying on the grass with a straw like thing in his mouth, removed it and nodded.
"Welcome back. It was very quiet."
"What is that?"
"The NPC from the grocery store said that it was a Sylvain specialty."
"I did not hear of such a thing!"
Kirito handed over that something and Lyfa accepted it with her hand. She concealed her inner tension and took a bite. With a breath, the mint's fragrant sweet aroma emanated from her mouth.
"It's my turn to logout, please guard me."
"Ok, have a good trip."
When Kirito called up the menu window and pressed the log-out button, his body automatically went into a standby position. Lyfa then sat down beside him and started looking casually up at the heavens while sucking a mint straw when the pixie from Kirito`s breast pocket flew out and surprised her.
"Whoa! You can move when your master is not in-game?"
Yui made an 'of course' face and put her hands on her hips and nodded.
"Of course I can. I'm myself. And he's not my master; he's my papa."
"Having said that, why do you call Kirito your papa? Could it be that he set you up that way?"
"Papa helped me, but he also said that I am his child. So he's my papa."
"I see..."
Sure enough, she did not understand it.
"You love your papa?"
Lyfa casually asked, and Yui looked at her with a serious face.
"Lyfa, what is love?"
"W-what...."
Lyfa was unprepared for the unexpected question and considered it for a moment before only vaguely answering.
"....It's a feeling of wanting to be together. And when you are together, your heart beats faster, or something like that...."
Kazuto`s smiling face suddenly popped into her mind, but why was it the same with the resting face of the avatar beside her? Lyfa gasped. Not sure since when her feelings for Kirito became similar to her hidden feelings for Kazuto. Lyfa shook her head without thinking. Yui saw her do this and cocked her head, asking:
"What's wrong, Lyfa?"
"No, no, no, it is nothing!"
Lyfa shouted, and at that moment—
"What's nothing?"
"Waah!!"
Kirito had suddenly raised his head and Lyfa jumped.
"I'm back. What happened?"
Kirito looked at the distressed Lyfa and stood up. Perched on his shoulder, Yui said:
"Welcome back, papa. We were just talking about who she likes and—,"
"Hey, we were not!!"
Lyfa hurriedly interrupted Yui.
"You came back quickly. Did you eat something?"
Lyfa asked to hide her embarrassment.
"Ah yes, my family made something for me."
"I see, well then, let's quickly depart. If we don't arrive at the Mine City before it gets late, it'll be troublesome to log-out. Come on, let's fly to the cave entrance!"
Lyfa quickly finished talking and stood up. Even though Kirito and Yui did not quite understand what was going on, she didn't wait for them to figure it out and gently began beating her wings.
"Ah, yes. Then let`s go."
Still not understanding the reason for Lyfa's expression, he also spread his wings. But suddenly, he turned and looked in the direction of the forest they came from.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing..."
Kirito replied, though he still stared towards the forest.
"It feels like someone watching. Yui, can you tell if there are any other players in our general area?"
"No, there is no one around us."
The pixie shook her little head. But Kirito didn't look like he is convinced.
"Felt like being watched... is there some sort of a sixth sense in this game?"
Hearing Lyfa ask that, Kirito rubbed his forehead with his right hand and said:
"It is really hard to do that. If anyone is looking at us, the system would have to «Reference» us, you might just feel the data stream used to do so, or so people say."
"Is that so?"
"But Yui does not sense any people nearby so there shouldn't be."
"Ah, then they may have used a Tracer."
Lyfa whispered to Kirito, who raised his eyebrows.
"What is that?"
"It's a tracking spell. Usually a small magic creature that tells the caster the position of the target."
"That's a pretty convenient spell. Can you lift the spell off of us?"
"If I can see the Tracer then I can lift it, but if the caster's magic skills are high, the distance he can observe from increases, so finding it in a field like this is almost impossible."
"I see. It might be just my imagination, anyway let's hurry and go."
"Ok."
After nodding, they flew up into the sky again. The white cliffs of the mountain range were not far away, and in the middle of the cliff was a huge black cave. Aiming for the cave opening that had sinister cold air coming out of it, Lyfa flapped her wings faster and sped up.
After a few minutes of flying, the two reached the cave entrance.
Almost perpendicular to the huge rocks, the cave was a giant square shape that cut into the cliff face. It's width and height was three or four times bigger then Lyfa. They could not tell when they were far away, but carved around the entrance of the cave were some monster designs. The upper part of the hole had a huge devil's head sticking out, looking with contempt into the eyes of all intruders.
"This cave... does it have a name?"
To Kirito's question, Lyfa nodded her head and replied:
"It is called «Ruger Corridor». Ruger happens to be the name of the Mine City."
"Whoa, it's like a story I've seen in a fantasy movie!"
Lyfa looked at Kirito in her peripheral vision and saw him smile. He probably meant those classic fantasy books, from which the films were produced. In Kazuto's room, there was a box with such Collectors' Edition books, she had borrowed them all without permission to read.
"I know what you are talking about. To cross a mountain, they went through the underground mines, and got attacked by a big demon. But, unfortunately demon-type monsters do not appear here."
"That is really too bad."
"Ah, but the cave is infested by orcs. If you find it interesting, you can then deal with the whole horde."
Finished, the two began to move forward into the cave.
It was very cool inside the cave, the light from outside was also very thin, slowly enveloping everything in darkness. It's best to use magic lighting; she thought and turned to Kirito walking beside her.
"Oh yes, Kirito-kun did you train your magic skills?"
"Ah, just the race starting magic, but I didn't use it often."
"Exploring caves is a Spriggan speciality with the use of the lights, it is even more effective than a wind mage's magic."
"Hmm, Yui, do you know?"
Kirito scratched his head and Yui came out of his pocket and said in a lecture voice:
"Papa, I'd really advise that you at least read the instruction manual. Using light magic is...."
Yui slowly said the incantation, and Kirito raised his right hand and repeated the words. His right hand sent a wave of gray light, and it continued to spread. When it covered Lyfa, she was able to see in a wide area around them. The light did not appear to be a light source; instead, the spell gave the user night-vision.
"Wow, this is really convenient. Spriggans might actually be of some use."
"Ah, hearing you say that makes me feel hurt."
"Ha ha ha. But seriously, you should at least memorize some useful magic incantations. If you can't even use Spriggans' speciality spells in a life and death situation, it would be a shame."
"Woo, those words hurt even more."
While talking lightly, they continued to move further inside the cave's many twists and turns. Soon, they couldn't see the white light from the entrance anymore.
"I think it was 'ARLU-DENA-RERE..'"
Kirito looked at the shiny purple Reference Manual and tried to whisper unfamiliar spell incantations.
"No, no, reading it like this won't activate the spell. The incantation is not just mechanical recitation, you must understand each «Word of Power» and associate it with the effect of magic while memorizing it."
Hearing this remark, the black swordsman sighed deeply and dropped his head.
"I did not think that I would be learning words that look like English in a game."
"I'll warn you, the high level spells have at least twenty words."
"Aw come on, I'll just be a pure fighter..."
"Crying is useless!! Quickly start over again."
In the about two hours they travelled after entering the cave, they fought with orcs over ten times and won without any problems. Thanks to the map purchased in Sylvain, they went in a straight line and travelled fast. According to the map, there should be a huge underground lake ahead, crossing the bridge over it should lead to the mining city, Ruger.
Ruger was not as big as the Gnome underground capital city, but it held facilities that produced high quality ore and a lot of businessmen and blacksmith players lived there. They didn't meet any other players on the way. This cave wasn't a very good hunting place, and above all, as Sylphs' forte is flight, many would tend to avoid places where they couldn't fly. The cave was plenty large, but as neither sunlight nor moonlight, the sources of flight endurance, reach this area, the wings are not able to recover.
Sylph players who wanted to go to Aarun for trade and tourism usually took the longer route from the northern part of Sylvain, passing into Cait Sith territory near the mountains. Living there are the Cait Sith race with their cat ears and tail. They could use the skill «Taming» by feeding monsters and animals, and had always provided tamed riding animals to the Sylph capital in friendship, so they had been on good terms for a long while. The relationship between the lords of the two races was also very good, it was said that they would soon form a covenant.
Since Lyfa had a few close Cait Sith friends, she had intended to choose the route through the northern pass, but went through the mountains because Kirito looked to be in a hurry. Truthfully, going through underground depths made Lyfa uncomfortable, but in the present situation going through the mountains certainly did not present a problem.
Anyway, the reason why Kirito was in so much of a hurry to get to Aarun, and the World Tree, was still a mystery to her. His attitude made her wonder at the uncertainty of his heart, but his fighting posture seemed very anxious.
She remembered Kirito mention he was looking for someone. People who lost contact in the real world and came looking in game was not too uncommon. On the bulletin board in front of the grocery store, in the asking people corner, the 'Looking for someone' was never ending. Usually it was for revenge or love interest, but neither seemed to fit Kirito. And, searching in Aarun was understandable, but why the world tree? Right now that was like an unreachable area, even if we could reach the bottom, going to the top was almost impossible.
Lyfa walked beside Kirito who was continuing the hard fight with Spellwords, and lost herself in thought. Usually not paying attention in the neutral zone was equivalent to suicide, but on this trip due to Yui's fearsome senses, she would warn them of approaching monsters so there was no need to worry about ambushes.
Then, after a few more minutes, they were about to reach the underground lake when Lyfa heard a sound, it was not Yui's warning, it was very close to the ringing of a phone.
Lyfa raised her head, turned to Kirito, and said:
"Ah, I'm getting a message. I'm sorry, please wait a moment."
"Ok."
Lyfa stopped, near the front of her body below her chest, she pressed the icon shown. A window popped up showing receive of a Friend Message. Lyfa's friend list only had one name , Recon, this was not out of intention, so even before reading it she knew who it was from. It was probably irrelevant content, she thought while glancing at it. But—
'It is what I expected! Be careful, S'
That was the only thing written.
"What the heck is this?"
She said without thinking. It didn't make any sense. What was expected? Be careful of what? And what was the 'S' at the end? Even if he signed the message, wouldn't it be with an 'R', wasn't there some kind of hidden meaning?
"Esu...sa...shi...su....hmm."
"What was it?"
Lyfa explained it to the puzzled Kirito. Then, Yui stuck her head out of his pocket and said:
"Papa, I'm detecting a response in close proximity."
"Monsters?"
Kirito`s hand clutched his sword hilt, but Yui shook her head.
"No – players, a lot, twelve of them."
"Twelve!?"
Lyfa became speechless. For a group of players forming a combat party, that was just too many. Maybe it was a group of Sylph going from Sylvain to Ruger, or even to Aarun as a trade caravan.
Indeed, once a month there was usually a large party gathering in the Sylph capital for a trip to and from the central area. Usually a few days ahead of departure, they would tell all the players to recruit participants, but this morning when she had looked at the Bulletin Board there hadn't been anything written about that.
Here was an unknown group, if it were Sylphs then it might not have been dangerous, but the chance of it being a PK group of a different race was not unthinkable. Lyfa had a bad feeling about the whole thing, she turned towards Kirito.
"I have a bad feeling about this. We should hide and let them pass."
"But hide where?"
Kirito was puzzled and looked around. They were in a long wide road, with no side branches to hide in.
"Well, leave that to me."
Lyfa grabbed Kirito's wrist and hid in a nearby hollow area. Suppressing the blush brought on by close physical contact, she raised her left hand for the magic incantation.
Soon a green light radiating from the foot upward, wrapped the two bodies. Vision was slightly green-dyed, but from the outside they would be almost completely hidden. Lyfa looked up at Kirito beside her and whispered:
"Speak quietly, if we're too loud then the magic will be lifted."
"Understood. This magic is really useful."
Kirito watched the area they were hiding, constantly scanning the area. Yui poked her head out and said in a low voice:
"In about two minutes you will see them."
The two of them made themselves smaller and moved close to the cave wall. After some tense seconds, Lyfa heard the sound of footsteps coming. Mixed in with the footsteps was the sound of heavy armour clanking, which made her think and look.
Kirito craned his neck, staring at the direction of the unknown group.
"What is that?"
"What? I do not see anyone."
"I don't see any players, but maybe monsters? A small, red bat."
"!?"
Lyfa held her breath looking at the front. In the darkness of the cave, there was a little red shape flying their way. This was—
"Damn."
Lyfa subconsciously cursed out loud, and jumped from lying low on the ground out to the middle of the road. The Concealment Magic lifted at the same time and Kirito stood up as well bewildered.
"Hey, hey, what happened?"
"That is high level magic Tracer Searcher!! We must destroy it quickly!!"
While crying out, Lyfa stretched out her hands and began chanting a spell. After a lengthy incantation, her fingertips released numerous shining emerald needles. Viiii, sounded in the air as the needles head to kill the red shape.
The bat floated in the air slowly, and tried to dodge the attacks, but since there were so many needles, it soon got pierced with many. It fell to the ground, wrapped by a red flame, and disappeared. Confirmed hit, Lyfa turned towards Kirito and shouted:
"Run toward the city, Kirito-kun!!"
"Oh, no more hiding?"
"The enemy will know when their tracer was destroyed. They will probably send out a lot of searchers, so it will be almost impossible to hide. That magic pet had fire properties. This means the approaching party is..."
"Salamanders!"
Kirito frowned after showing off his knowledge. While they were talking, the rattle-rattle sound of metal mixed with footsteps came closer. Lyfa turned and saw in the distance a dark red light.
"Let's go."
Nodding, the two began to run.
As they checked the map while rushing onwards, this straight road will soon end, and in front is a huge underground lake. The way to pass the lake is a bridge, at the other end is the entrance to the mining city, Ruger. It is a neutral city so no attack is allowed inside, no matter how many people they have, they won't be able to do anything.
But why is a big group of Salamanders here?
Lyfa bit her lip. Using a tracer means they were hunting us from the beginning. After departing Sylvain, because of Yui's search power, there shouldn't be a chance for them to cast it. The only possibility is that they used the magic while we were in the streets of Sylvain.
The number of Sylph who can use fire magic is not zero. Each race has an attribute of magic talent, the wind for Sylph, earth for Gnome, etc., and other attributes of the spell can be learned through hard practice and increasing skills.
However, the red bat they killed can follow and track the target, and search for hidden targets, is a very high level magic that requires a fire magic skill almost impossible for another race than Salamander to obtain. In other words—
'There was a Salamander in Sylvain?'
Lyfa thought while running. If this is true, it's not easily done. Although Sylvain is open to travelers of other races, due to the hostile relations with the Salamanders, their entry is very strict and checked. If the strong NPC guardians find a Salamander, they will immediately attack. Getting past that isn't too easy.
"Oh, the lake!"
Running to the right in front of her, Kirito`s voice interrupted Lyfa`s thoughts. She raised her head and saw the rugged mountain road changing into flat stone ahead, the space becoming very open, the dark green lake water shining with a faint light.
A stone bridge spans the middle of the lake, on the other side is a huge gate reaching to the roof. It is the mining city, Ruger's door. Once beyond that door, it's our victory in this game of hide and seek.
This gave Lyfa some peace of mind and she took a look over her shoulder. From behind, the red light was still some distance away. Since this is the case— the two ran at full speed up the stone trail.
When they got on the bridge, the surrounding temperature dropped a lot. They cut through the water scented air, speeding on the bridge.
"Looks like we escaped."
"Don't drop your guard. There is a large monster in the water."
While talking with Kirito, they arrived at the center of the bridge which was a round observation area, and in that instant.
Passing over their head in the darkness, from behind came two points of high-speed light. Its special light and sound effect showed that it is magical. It must be from the Salamanders chasing them, but its accuracy is very bad.
Since it will hit in front of them, they just need to slow down. After slowing, the light landed about ten meters in front.
It exploded as expected, Lyfa raised her right hand to cover her face, but what happened next was completely unexpected. Humming! A huge rock wall rose up from the bridge and blocked up the entire path. Lyfa frowned at the unexpected problem and swore:
"This is bad..."
"What?"
Kirito`s eyes got wide, but kept running forward and drew his sword to slash the wall.
"Ah, Kirito-kun!"
'It's useless,' didn't have time to exit her mouth. Kirito's sword hit the stone wall, Goun! A loud noise came from the contact and the rebound force made him sit on the bridge. The brown stone wall didn't have a single scratch on it.
"...It's no use."
Lyfa flew over to Kirito's side and stopped, saying it. The Spriggan youth stood up with a reproachful look.
"You should have said that earlier."
"You are too reckless. This is an earth magic barrier, physical attacks can't damage it. Only a lot of magic attacks can destroy it..."
"We don't have the time for that..."
They turned together, the group garbed in armor, gleaming with the color of blood, was approaching the front of the bridge.
"Flying around it... won't be possible, huh. How about diving into the lake?"
Shaking her head at Kirito's proposal.
"Not possible. I said it earlier, there seems to be a very high level water dragon monster living in the lake. Without an Undine's help, fighting in the water would be suicidal."
"So, there's no choice but to fight, right?"
Turning to Kirito who held his sword in a graceful posture, Lyfa bit her lip and nodded.
"We have no choice... but this might be bad... For Salamanders to use such high level earth magic, there must be a rather skilful mage in that group."
The bridge is not wide, so the worst condition of being surrounded can be avoided. Even with this, twelve against two are really long odds, and flight is not possible within this dungeon. Lyfa's excellence in aerial dogfights can't be used.
It all depends on the enemies' combat effectiveness.
...But we cannot hope for too much on that.
Murmuring that in her heart, Lyfa stood beside Kirito and drew her katana. With the sound of heavy metal, the approaching enemy can easily be seen. In the front are three big Salamanders, dressed in armor heavier than the Salamanders she fought yesterday, left hand holding a mace or another single-handed weapon, and right hand equipped with a huge metal shield.
Seeing this, Lyfa was momentarily lost in thought. Within ALO the dominant hand is the same as in the real world, so left-handed players should be relatively few.
Before Lyfa can voice this doubt, Kirito looked at her and said:
"Don`t take this the wrong way, but can you be my support?"
"Eh?"
"I hope that you can heal me from behind. This way I can fight without care."
Lyfa looked at Kirito's huge double-edged sword. Indeed on this narrow bridge, friendly fire would be possible and avoiding that would be hard. Healing is not her speciality, but she nodded her head and retreated to just before the rock wall. There was no time for argument.
Kirito bent down and drew his sword from behind. He sent waves of pressure toward the three Salamanders. Kirito's body is not too big, so he barely made a sound moving forward. His eyes shone with the accumulation of energy. The distance between the two sides shortened as she watched—
"—Ha!!"
In one breath, Kirito's left foot stepped forward, blue special effect lights appeared as he slashed his sword horizontally at the dark red heavy soldiers. With the loud sound of air being cut, the bridge shook; it was the most powerful slash that Lyfa had ever seen. But—
"Eh!?"
Lyfa eyes wide open in surprise. The three Salamanders pulled their weapons back, and brought their shields forward, hiding their bodies behind the wall of shields.
GANG! ! Loud roar, Kirito's sword hit the Tower Shields in a row leaving a horizontal scar. The air vibrated and a big wave spread out on the lake. But those heavy fighters were only pushed back, blocking Kirito's attack.
Lyfa hurriedly studied their HP. Probably more than ten percent reduction, but that was only for a moment, as the next instant chants rang out behind them, and pale blue light covered the three front defenders. In reply to the healing incantations, their HP refilled completely. Then, in the back...
From behind the castle wall-like defense of steel, many red-orange fireballs shot out, followed a parabolic path through the air, and exploded at Kirito's position.
Explosions powerful enough to make the lake surface reflect red covered the black-clad boy.
"Kirito-kun!!"
Lyfa shouted loudly, almost in despair. Kirito's HP bar rapidly declined, instantly moving into the yellow warning area. No, in ALO's fully skill-based system, HP increases very slowly, so it's a miracle he didn't die instantly. These are intensive multiple magic attacks. Lyfa immediately realized the other's intent to kill.
This enemy group certainly knows about Kirito and his physical attack power, so they used these counter measures.
Three heavily armored defenders would tank Kirito's attacks, using heavy shields for defense. No matter how powerful Kirito's attacks are, if he can't hit their body directly, he wouldn't cause fatal damage. The remaining nine people are probably all mages. Some would heal the front line defenders, others used indirect fire magic to attack. This is the formation used for fighting boss monsters with strong physical attacks.
But why would so many people be mobilized to attack Kirito and Lyfa?
Leaving her doubt behind, Lyfa started her healing magic incantation. Finally the flames thinned, and as the Kirito became visible, Lyfa used the highest rank healing spell she had. Soon his HP bar began to fill, but she knew it would not last long.
Kirito was also aware of the enemies' tactics. Since a long fight was unfavorable, he lifted up his sword and stormed toward the heavy solider line.
"Woo oh!"
The black blade hit the shields, and bright sparks flashed.
But— Here, the fighting turned into a numbers game.
The damage done by Kirito's sword was soon healed by the mages behind. After that, the remaining mages chanted attack magic and Kirito was hit by another explosion.
There is no room for individual skills; Lyfa hated this style of fighting the most. Now the battle is determined by the mages' MP and Kirito's HP, which will run out first. But the result was very clear.
Numerous fireballs rained down and blasted Kirito. Continuous explosions hit Kirito and his battered body flipped and bounced onto the ground.
Since this is a game, the body in ALO doesn't show «Pain», but bearing the magical explosions directly can cause some bad feedback. The roar shakes the brain, the heat burns the skin, the impact upsets the balance. These effects will be transferred to reality in the flesh, after signing out these effects will remain for several hours as headaches and dizziness.
"Uuu...oooh!"
But no matter how many times Kirito was engulfed in flames he continued to stand up and swing his sword. While chanting healing magic, Lyfa didn't want to see him in pain. This is a game. In this situation, most would give up. While failure is regrettable, under the system constraints, this is a difference in combat strength you can't do anything about. Even so, why—
Lyfa could no longer bear seeing Kirito like this, so she went a few steps behind Kirito and cried:
"Enough, Kirito-kun! It's just another few hours of flight from Sylvain! What items that were stolen we can just buy back, please give up!"
But Kirito shook his head and said in a hushed tone:
"No!"
His eyes reflected the brilliant red flames surrounding them.
"While I live, I won't let my party member die. I will definitely not allow that!"
Lyfa, at a loss for words, could only stand still.
In such desperate times, different players react in many different ways. There are people who would have laughed at «this moment», there are people whose eyes would open wide and succumb to fear, and there are also those who would resist to the end. But in any case, they are all used to the simulation of «Death». This experience can not be avoided while playing VRMMO games, and has to be accepted. Otherwise there is no way to «Enjoy» this type of «Game».
But the light in Kirito's glaring eyes is something Lyfa had never seen before. Struggling with this system's impossible situation, desperately trying to find a way to live, she got drawn in. At this moment, Lyfa forgot this is a game, an illusionary world.
"Woo-oh-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah!!"
Kirito who stood up and roared, shook the air with his sound. When enemy fire stopped for a moment, he suddenly rushed forward, ignoring the shield wall ahead. Lowered his sword in his right hand, his empty left hand held the edge of the shield and tried to push it open. This unexpected action disrupted the Salamander's defensive line. When their defensive wall cracked, Kirito forced his sword in.
To break past a defensive wall with mages behind it is something even the veteran player Lyfa had not seen before. Also, that action was not even an attack, so it couldn't deal any damage. But, due to Kirito's crazy action, the man holding the shield cried in confusion:
"Damn, what is with this guy?!"
At this time, a small voice reached Lyfa's ears.
"Now is the only chance!"
Looking around, unknown since when, Yui hung on to her right shoulder.
"An opportunity!?"
"The only uncertainty is the enemy players' mental state. Use up all your remaining MP, please block the next magic attack!"
"B..but, even doing that..."
Like pouring water onto a hot stone, Lyfa held back what she was going to say. She looked seriously at the supposedly simple AI, Yui, and saw determination equal to Kirito's.
Lyfa nodded her head, and held both hands upward. The enemy mage group is already chanting the fireball spell, but in order to match the launch time, it was at a relatively slow speed. Lyfa chanted the spell words at her usual high speed. Any incantation error will result in failure, she chanted the fastest she could, just shy of the danger line.
Lyfa completed her spell just a bit ahead of them. From her hands came countless small butterflies flying out, surrounding Kirito's body.
After that, the enemies completed their chant as well. With a shrill sound, the group's fireballs shot into the sky. Flame after flame engulfed Kirito, who was trying to break through the shield wall.
"Ha!"
Lyfa's outstretched hands experience the feedback pressure from the explosions, and she clenched her teeth. The defensive magic field around Kirito canceled out the explosions, and her mana points dropped with a clunk clunk sound effect. Not even drinking mana recovery potion can keep up with it. What's the point of defending one such attack, she thought, but then.
Standing on the shoulder of Lyfa, Yui loudly shouted:
"Papa, do it now!!"
Kirito blinked while startled. In the red lotus flames, he raised his sword and stood up. She can hear the subtle sound of chanting. Lyfa matched the spell word fragments to the index in her memory.
'This incantation is... Illusion attribute!?'
Lyfa held her breath for a moment— then ground her teeth. The spell Kirito is casting is an illusion magic that makes a player look like a monster. But the magic is not useful in actual combat. Because the shape depends randomly on the player's combat skills, usually the result is some weak monster, with no change in stats, since most people are aware of this it won't frighten them.
Lyfa began losing MP very fast, soon only 10% was left. She decided to gamble on Yui's idea, but it seems the dice betrayed them.
However, it can't be helped. Knowing the game's «Strength» is needed to support the wealth of knowledge. For Kirito who just started playing a few days ago, asking him to understand each of the huge number of spells is too cruel.
While thinking this, Lyfa put the last of her power into protecting Kirito. the enemy's last wave of attacks finally stopped, just as Lyfa's defense shield disappeared. A whirlpool of flames rolled up, and slowly dissipated—
"Eh!?"
Inside the fire wall, a shadow moved. For a time, Lyfa thought she was seeing things. That is way too huge.
Standing in front of the Salamanders was a giant twice their size. Doubting her sight, it looked like a giant bent over.
"Kirito-kun, is that you?"
She asked in amazement. She can't think it's anything else. This is Kirito's changed form created by the illusion spell, but that huge size.
In front of Lyfa's eyes, the shadow looked up. This figure is not a giant. Its head like a goat, with curved horns extending out the back of the head. Round shiny red eyes flashing, teeth outside his mouth breathed flames in the air.
?
His upper body is all muscle covered with dark skin, long arms almost reaching the ground. His back has a whip-like tail. To describe the unknown figure in words, only «Devil» fit.
All of the Salamanders were frozen in place. Watching them like their souls were taken away, the black devil lifted his head high.
"Roarrr———!!" A thunderous roar issued, and it truly shook the world. From the core of the body, instinctive fear spread out.
"Prattle! Babbling!"
A Salamander front defender screamed while backing away a few steps. At this instant, the devil moved with a fearsome speed. His iron clawed right hand passed through the open shield wall, his fingers pierced a heavy armored soldier's body— the next moment, red End Frame blowing, the Salamander disappeared.
"Woo ah ah ah!?"
Seeing their partner killed in one blow, the remaining two front defenders screamed in unison. They dropped their shields, their left hands brandishing weapons, and retreated in fear.
From the mage group, someone like their leader shouted in anger:
"Stupid, do not disrupt the formation! He can only reach what he sees, if you become a turtle you won't get hurt!"
However those words did not reach the ears of the soldiers. The dark devil roared and jumped in, it opened its huge mouth and bit the head of the soldier to the right and grabbed the left solider with its iron claws. He violently shook and beat the avatars, gogob! Continuous red death throes splash out, almost the same as blood spatter.
The three front guards were destroyed within ten seconds. Their leader recovered and ordered the mage group, and they began to chant. But without any armor and only wearing red robes, the pure mage group is way too fragile compared to the front guards. With a shruru breath, the standing devil is way more fearsome than the illusion magic effect. Their chanting speed became even slower than before.
Before the chanting could finish, the devil raised his right arm toward the mages and slashed horizontally. The two in front were hit and blown away, they turned into red flames in the air, dissipated and disappeared. Screams and sound of glass shattering, cracking sound effects filled the air. That was from the tree trunk like left arm hitting two more Salamanders, who disappeared.
A high level mage wearing high quality cloth armor became distracted and messed up certain words in his incantation. The Spellword fumble effect covered his hands and boom, he disappeared in a dark cloud.
Kirito, in his Devil-form, took a step and roared again. The Salamander leader screamed 'Hiii!' and waved his right hand around.
"Withdrawal, withdrawal! Retreat—"
Before he finished the sentence—
The devil instantly squatted, then jump forward significantly. Landing in the middle of the enemy, sending shock waves through the bridge. After what happened, it can not be called fighting anymore.
As the devil's claws swung, End Frame followed its path. A few brave ones tried to fight back with their staves, while swinging their weapons, the devil's teeth bit through their heads, and they lost their lives.
Escaping from the storm, the leader reached the far side of the bridge. With a splash of water he jumped into the lake, and swam in high speed for the far side.
In ALO falling into the water, if the weight of equipment does not exceed a certain amount you will not sink. Mages luckily have equipment that is very light, and soon he was far from the bridge— when suddenly, a huge shadow appeared beneath him.
Right after, the leader was dragged into the water with a splash. Leaving little bubbles, he sank into the lake, and before he disappeared, some vague points of red light can be seen.
The devil that is Kirito didn't seem to care about the enemy leader's death, he grabbed the last unlucky mage and raised him up. At the screaming body, he put force into his hands to squeeze...
The violence of this scene shakes Lyfa and at that moment, she finally came to her senses and shouted:
"Ah, Kirito-kun!! Leave that man alive!!"
While Yui said, "That was very impressive," and other senseless comments on her shoulder, Lyfa walked out. The devil stopped and turned around, and with an unhappy sound released the Salamander in the air.
The man fell on the bridge with a snapping sound, his relaxed body breathing heavily, Lyfa came in front of him, and put the long sword in her right hand between his legs. With the metal sound when her sword tip hit the bridge, the man shuddered.
"Now, tell us who sent you!!"
Lyfa was trying to scare him, but that woke him up from his shock, his face pale, he shook his head.
"If you're gonna kill me, then do it!"
"Why you.."
At the moment, the devil looking down from above, black mist shrouded him, and the huge body began to disappear. Lyfa looked up, from center of the fog, a small figure jumped out and landed on the bridge.
"Oh, nice rampage!"
Kirito shook his head and said in a relaxed tone, putting the sword on his back. He went to the man who blankly opened his mouth and squatting down beside him, patted his shoulder.
"Yo, Nice Fight."
"What...?"
Kirito stared at the stunned man, with a bright, clear tone, continued:
"It was nice fighting tactics. If it was just me, I would have been defeated fast!"
"W...wait, Kirito-kun..."
"It's ok, fine."
To Lyfa's unhappy remark, Kirito said while winking.
"Well then, let's talk about items with you."
Kirito opened a trade window and then showed him a list of items.
"These are the items and money I got from fighting your group. I was thinking, if you can answer our questions, then I will give these all to you maybe..."
The man's mouth opened and closed a few times, then looked at Kirito with a sly smile. He looked around, probably confirming that the time had expired on the dead Salamanders, and they were already transported back to the «Save Point», he once again looked at Kirito.
"Really?"
"Really, really."
Looking at the two smiling, Lyfa sighed.
"Men can be really—"
"It's like, you can't do anything about them..."
Yui sitting on her shoulder offered a comment. A bit fearful of the contempt from the two women, the two men nodded to each other to signal successful trade negotiations.
The Salamander, who started talking, had a lot to say.
"This evening, Jiitakusu-san, ah he's the leader of the mage group earlier, contacted me with a cell phone e-mail, I was having dinner so I wanted to decline but he forced me to come. When I got there it turned out to be around ten people hunting two people, I thought it might be some kind of bullying, but they said it was the person Kagemune-san fought yesterday, so I understood..."
"Who is that Kagemune-san?"
"He is the Lance group captain. He was a famous Sylph hunter, but yesterday he suffered a rare heavy defeat and retreated home. You guys beat him right?"
Hearing about the Sylph hunting made Lyfa frown. She and Kirito looked at each other. He must be the Salamander group leader they repulsed last night.
"So, why did that Jiitakusu-san want to hunt us?"
"The order seemed to come from someone higher ranked than Jiitakusu-san. Like you are interfering with some kind of «Strategy» or something."
"What strategy?"
"The Salamander upper ranks are up to something. They won't tell junior soldiers like me, but I know they are after something big. Today, when I first logged in, I saw a large number fly north."
"North..."
Lyfa put her finger to her lips, and thought. The Salamander capital «Gadan» is in the southern most part of ALfheim, flying straight north, they will hit the mountain range we are currently crossing. Slightly west of that is Ruger Corridor, and east at the base of the mountains is «Dragon Valley». Whichever path they chose, after that is the central city Aarun, and then the world tree.
"Do they want to raid the world tree?"
Hearing Lyfa's question, the man shook his head.
"No way. We are still recovering from the previous complete defeat. The minimum is to equip the army with ancient weapon rank equipment so we are saving money. For that reason our normal routine is very harsh. Even so we only acquired half the target amount of money."
"Oh?"
"Well, that's all I know. Is what you said earlier true?"
The second part he asked Kirito.
"I never lie about a trade."
The Spriggan youth operated the trade window. The Salamander looking at the list of items he is getting was very happy and moved his fingers around.
Lyfa looked at the man with a stunned expression and asked:
"Hey you, these were all your companions' equipment right? Don't you feel bad?"
After hearing this, the man raised his voice:
"You don't seem to understand. These were those guys' arrogantly shown off rare items, which increase my pleasure getting them. Of course it would be bad for me to use them. I will sell them all and maybe buy a house."
'I will let the heat cool off for a few days before returning to Salamander Territory.' Leaving those words behind, the Salamander walked in the direction he came from and was soon out of sight.
It feels like the life and death fight ten minutes before seems like a lie. Lyfa looked at the already back to normal face of Kirito.
"Eh? What?"
"Ah, well... That rampaging devil from earlier, was Kirito-kun right?"
Hearing this, Kirito looked up and scratched his chin.
"Yes, most likely."
"Likely? Wasn't that a tactic to deceive the Salamanders and confuse them with a monster?"
"No, I didn't think that far... it happens to me sometimes. During a fight, I lose control and can't remember things..."
"Woo ah, scary."
"Well, I somehow remember the battle earlier. I used the magic Yui suggested, and became very big. Since my sword disappeared, I had to use my hands..."
"Also with the teeth bite yo ~"
On Lyfa's shoulder, Yui added with pleasure.
"Ah, speaking about that. The experience of being a monster is fun."
Watching Kirito smile and laugh, Lyfa suddenly wanted to know something. She gingerly opened her mouth.
"Did you... taste it? The Salamander..."
"...It is something like charred BBQ flavor and texture..."
"Waa, enough, don't say it!"
She waved her hands at Kirito. Suddenly her hand was caught...
"Gaoou!!"
Shouting that, he opened his mouth and closed it on Lyfa's fingers.
"Kyaaaaa———!!"
Lyfa screamed, after that came a Bang sound that made ripples on the lake surface.
"Ouch, it hurts."
While rubbing his face that got slapped by Lyfa, Kirito slowly walked.
"That was papa's fault!"
"That's true. You were really rude."
Hearing Lyfa and Yui on her shoulder say so, Kirito looked like a reprimanded child and argued.
"I was trying to ease the battle tension and pent up energy, with wit and joke.."
"Next time you do that, I'll cut you."
Lyfa closed her eyes and turned away, speeding up the pace.
In front is a huge stone gate that reached the ceiling. This is the city gate of the mining town Ruger.
For re-supply and sorting out information, it's best to stay the night in town. The unexpected large-scale fighting took a lot of time, so the real time is almost around midnight.
This is now the time that ALfheim starts to get busy, but Lyfa is still a student, so the latest she can stay in game is 1am. She told Kirito about this, he considered for a moment then nodded in understanding.
Passing through the gate side by side, instead of BGM, the NPC orchestra played wonderfully happy drums to greet the arrival of the two.
The scale of the street is not large, but at the the central intersection, shops for weapon and armor, all kinds of material, wine, food and many other types, and workshops all crowded together. The number of players were more than imagined. Under normal circumstances, the rarely met musical fairies (Pucas), blacksmith goblins (Leprechaun) and other ethnic groups were here, talking happily side-by-side.
"Oh... So this is Ruger."
Lyfa looked at the first time seen bustling underground city, and could not help but issue a happy voice. She rushed to the closest shop, checking out its display of swords. Even in these simple shops, buying things is a very exciting thing for her.
"By the way..."
While Lyfa started playing with a silver long sword, Kirito behind her with a laid-back tone said that.
"What?"
"Before the Salamanders attacked, didn't you get a message? What was it about?"
"...Ah."
Lyfa greatly opened her mouth, and turned around.
"I forgot."
She hurriedly opened the window, and checked the receive directory. Reading Recon's message again, it still didn't make any sense. It might have been cut off due to a connection problem, but there didn't seem to be a continuing message.
In this case, I'll just send him a message, but Recon's name in her friend list was gray. That means he was offline.
"What? He went to sleep?"
"Try to contact him on the other side?"
Lyfa thought about Kirito's suggestion.
To be honest, Lyfa did not like bringing ALfheim world events into the real world. She never went to the ALO community site, and she rarely talked to Recon— i.e. Shinichi Nagata, about game-related things in reality.
But that that enigmatic message had a pull on her is true.
"Then, I am going to log off and check it out, Kirito-kun, wait for me. Please look after my body. ...Yui-chan."
Lyfa then looked at Yui on her shoulder and added.
"Yes?"
"You have to watch your papa; do not let him take advantage of my body."
"Understood!"
"Hey!"
Kirito shook his head in jest and smiled. Lyfa sat on a nearby bench and waved her right hand.
She pressed the log out button, and took her fourth world change of the day. With a feeling of vertigo, her senses returned to the the real world far away.
"Fuu..."
She hadn't been logged in for such a long time in a while, so it left her feeling a little fatigued. She took a deep breath.
While wearing the Amuspere, she rolled over on the bed and looked at the alarm clock. Soon Midori will be home. It's better to meet with her at least...
While thinking that, she reached for her cell phone on the headboard. The EL panel on the external of the phone displayed calls received while she was logged in.
"What is this?"
Suguha's eyes widened. Twelve missed calls, all from Nagata Shinichi. If a family member, police, hospital or any type of emergency called, the linkage program through Amuspere would automatically log out, but Nagata's number was not in that list, so it was ignored. Why was he calling this late?
She opened the phone, preparing to return the call, but the thirteenth incoming call lit up her phone with a sapphire blue sheen. Suguha pressed the call key, and put the phone to her ear.
"Hello, Nagata-kun? What is it?"
"Ah! You've finally come out! It's too late, Suguha-chan!!"
"What do you mean too late? I was busy inside."
"Big trouble! Sigurd! That guy sold us out. Not just us, but the lord, Sakuya-san, as well. He sold us all out!"
"Sold us out? What do you mean? Explain from the beginning."
"Hmm, there is no time... Well, when we were attacked yesterday in the Ancient Forest by the Salamanders, Suguha-chan didn't you feel it was suspicious?"
Nagata returned to his habitual way of calling Suguha. When talking face-to-face, if he called her the too familiar name of Suguha-chan, she would always attack him physically. But since she couldn't do that on the phone, she had to accept it grudgingly.
Saying that, Suguha was surprised that it only happened the day before. It seemed like a long time ago since she met Kirito.
"Eh? Suspicious? What happened?"
To tell the truth, her impression of Kirito was too strong that she couldn't remember the aerial combat before.
"In the beginning, when we were attacked by eight Salamanders, Sigurd wanted to be the bait and led three of them away right?"
"Ah, that reminds me. He didn't manage to escape either right?"
"That's right. But, thinking carefully about it now, that is not Sigurd's style at all. Whenever the party splits, he always remains as leader, and makes someone else be the bait, usually ."
"Ah. That is true..."
Sigurd was a capable combat commander, but he was self-righteous, and was not satisfied unless he was at the top. Indeed, for him to become bait while the other members escaped, this act of self-sacrifice was unlike his style.
"But, that is, what does it mean?"
"Like I said."
Nagata said like he ate something unpleasant.
"That guy worked with the Salamanders. Probably since a long time ago."
"What!?"
This shocked her to the core, and she clenched her cell phone while shouting.
In ALO, power games between ethnic groups were wide spread and using throw-away accounts for spying was a common occurrence. She was afraid that in her home, Sylvain, many other races, especially Salamanders were camouflaged within as Sylphs.
Basically, those players with low skills, little contributions, and sparse activity were likely to be spies. These people were not allowed near the power hub department. Lyfa was no exception; it hadn't been too long since she was allowed to enter the Lord's mansion behind the Tower of Wind.
But Sigurd had, since the beginning of ALO, actively participated in politics. In the recent election for the Lordship, he had been a candidate which proved his long play. Although the current Lord's high popularity meant he always came up second, he didn't seem to be upset and became assistant. So he had a big impact on the center of power.
Talk of him being a Salamander spy, was hard to understand or believe.
"Hey you, that, do you have proof?"
Suguha asked in surprise.
"I thought something was strange, so since this morning I used «Hollow» to follow Sigurd."
"You really have a lot of time."
«Hollow Body» was Recon's most adept transparency spell. It required high hiding magic and covert action to be mastered to use.
Recon used the name of the English letters «Recon» to refer to the U.S. military reconnaissance team— the correct pronunciation should be similar to RIIKON, it seemed. Due to his role as the lead tracker in hunting, he was the best of the best at tracking. Once, Recon had used his spell to enter the room Lyfa was resting in, he had claimed that it had been to secretly place her birthday present there, but in the end she had made him confess and Lyfa had mercilessly punished him almost to death.
Nagata ignored Suguha's incredulous words and continued.
"After hearing the bad things he said to you in the tower of wind, I followed him looking for a chance to assassinate him with poison. Then..."
"Wow, what a dangerous guy."
"...In front of an ally, he put on an invisibility cloak and disappeared. So he's finally up to something, I thought. Well, just using an item can't hide him from my eyes."
"Enough boasting. Hurry up and talk about what happened next."
"After going into the sewers, and walking about five minutes, there were two people waiting for him. They were also dressed in invisibility cloaks, and when they took them off I was surprised they were Salamanders!"
"Eh? But even wearing those cloaks can't hide them from the guardians. They would be attacked when they entered the street... It can't be..."
"That, it can. They were wearing «Pass Medallion»."
Pass Medallions were for traders and people of other races who come into our territory, and were given those as a pass after a strict examination. Only the ruling ministry could issue those and they couldn't be transferred to another person. Of course Sigurd had the rights to issue them.
"I thought this was a big scoop so I listened. He told the Salamander to put a Tracer on you. But that's not all. Today, Lord Sakuya and the Cait Sith are going to sign alliance agreements, so she left in maximum secrecy for a neutral city."
"Ah I see, no wonder there was no flag hanging at the lord's mansion."
Nagata's loud cries covered Suguha's mutter.
"That guy, Sigurd, he wanted the Salamanders' big army to attack the alliance ceremony!"
"Wha..."
For an instant, Suguha's breathing stopped. She had already decided she would not be returning when she left, but Sylph territory was still her home and Sakuya, her beloved lord. The anxious thoughts bubbling up made her shout into the phone microphone.
"This, this thing you should have said it earlier!! That's big trouble!!"
"That's why I said it's big trouble at the start..."
Responding to Nagata's sad argument, Suguha immediately interrupted him.
"That, does Sakuya know? Is there still time!?"
"I feel bad. When I was leaving the sewer, I kicked a stone by mistake..."
"You fool! Making a mistake at that time!"
"...It seems, recently I am starting to enjoy Suguha-chan's anger..."
"You big pervert!! So!? Did you contact her!?"
"The Salamanders' search magic saw through my disguise. I was thinking if they killed me I would be resurrected at the tower, then I could go to the lord's mansion. But they hit me with a poisoned arrow instead, it was really cruel."
Thinking back her previous statement, Suguha suppressed her rebuttal.
"So, what happened to Recon?"
"The Salamanders caught me while I was paralyzed... So I had no choice but to log off. Suguha-chan never answered my calls, and I don't have any other contacts in the real world. Hmm, the conference with the Cait Sith Lord is at one o'clock. Oh no, there's only forty minutes left! What should we do, Suguha-chan!?"
Suguha took a deep breath, and quickly asked:
"Do you know where the negotiations will take place?"
"I don't know the exact location... But it's inside the mountain pass, the «Butterfly Valley» area."
"Understood. ...I will go and try to warn them. There's no time to waste. I am hanging up."
"Ah, Suguha-chan!"
As she was preparing to press the end key, Nagata's minced voice came.
"What is it?"
"Ah, it's about that guy Kirito, what is your relationship with him?"
'Click.'
Suguha immediately ended the call, threw her phone to the headboard, lay her head on the pillow and closed her eyes. She mouthed the only Spell Word that works in the real world, then her consciousness gradually shifted to the other, conspiracy filled, world.
Lyfa opened her eyes and stood up.
"Woah, you surprised me!!"
The surprised Spriggan almost dropped the mysterious food he had bought —something on a skewer that resembled small reptiles— but he managed to hold onto it.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login