Part 2
The Norlangarth Imperia, the largest city in the Human World «Centoria» was a fortified city surrounded by a circular wall 10km in diameter... or in the units in this world, 10 kilolu.
The first level of the floating city of Aincrad was also a circle with a 10km diameter. In other words, these two large areas are exactly the same area and shape. This city had a size that was inexplicable for a city in the virtual world, and the population here was over 20,000.
Also, this city had a rather unique structure. The sturdy city walls that meet in an X intersection divided the streets into 4 areas. To put it in another perspective, these 4 walls that intersect at right angles formed a fan shape as they gathered. [3] What was most shocking was that these four cities were all called «North Centoria», «East Centoria», «West Centoria» and «South Centoria», the capitals of the 4 Empires that ruled the vast Human World.
In other words— the capitals of the 4 Great Imperials were all in the middle of this Human World, all separated by a mere wall.
I was shocked once I realized this. The king and the main army, the Knights' Headquarters, would definitely be there in the capital. Wouldn't it skip straight to the final battle if a war breaks out? — I nearly said these words to Eugeo, but managed to stop myself. In this world, where thieving, let alone killing wouldn't happen at all, it would be impossible for wars to happen between the Empires.
Even though an identification handprint was needed to cross the large marble wall —seemed like it was called the «Immortal Wall»— on closer look the North Centoria we're in had quite a few black-haired Eastern Empire people, tanned Southern Empire people and skinny Western people who were merchants or tourists. They were all foreigners, but maybe owing to the shared language (though there were some accents), there were no disputes between them.
I couldn't even feel animosity against other countries, let alone war. The reason for this was definitely the pure white tower that was standing at the center of the Capital, the center of the Human World.
The Axiom Church's Centoria Cathedral.
The top always looked to be shrouded, seemingly melted within the sky, so I could not see exactly how many hundred meters tall it was. It probably looked very majestic when viewed from the bottom, but the squarish Church ground was surrounded by the tall walls as well, so it would be impossible to peek inside. The «Immortal Wall» that stood in the center of the streets of Centoria was connected tightly to the four corners of the white Cathedral walls... or rather, it would be more appropriate to say that the walls extended out from the Cathedral.
On a side note, this Immortal Wall not only covered the streets of Centoria. It also reaches through the city walls, extends out through the grasslands, forests, deserts, all the way to the bottom of the endless «Mountain Range at the Edge», 750km away. Naturally, this world did not have construction machinery or anything like that, so it was scary imagining exactly how much time and manpower was required to build this wall.
That meant that the authority of the Axiom Church was absolute.
This magnificent tower, this castle, where one could see the 4 Empires the Kings lived in from above, stood in the middle of the Human World. Perhaps, in this Underworld, the designation between people of different countries was about the same as the «residents of Tokyo» and «residents of Saitama» to me— that was the feeling I had.
Then, exactly what was the need to divide the Human World that did not have even 100,000 people into 4 Countries? My mind had this question, and up till now, I still hadn't found an answer. At the same time, I had no idea why there was an Axiom Church that existed above the countries.
In the Axiom Church, there were civil officers like «priests» and «patriarchs», and also military officers called the «Integrity Knight», but there weren't a lot of them. It seemed that there were less than 100. Rina-sempai told me this before. In contrast, the total number of knights and soldiers in the 4 Empires was around 2000 people. However, there were no records of the kings rebelling against the Church before... Was this because even the kings couldn't go against the Church and the Taboo Index? Or that several Integrity Knights were still stronger than the army of 2000? Or is it a combination of both—?
The majesty of the Centoria Cathedral that grew into the sky could be seen anywhere in the campus of the Master Arts Academy. Once I ended my final practice-in-name with Rina-sempai, I walked out of the elite swordsmen dorm quickly, through this still slightly cold spring evening, and looked up at the large white tower that was dyed orange and blue afar.
At this point, is the observer, who's standing on the roof of that tower and looking down at this Human World, someone from the real world like me? Or is he too a person of Underworld, an Artificial Fluctlight? Even if our plan could be carried out successfully, it will take another year and a half for me to find the answer to this question. Of course, if the acceleration of 1000 times occurred without a hitch, only 10 hours would have passed in reality, but it was still a long time from my perspective.
It had been 2 years since I awoke in the forest near Rulid village. During these two years, I had been hounded with countless sleepless nights that caused me to tremble, by the anxiety over the lack of grasp on the situation and the yearning to meet Asuna, Suguha, my parents and my friends.
But at the same time— I had a bit of fear about finding the «exit» at the top of the Cathedral. Once I logged out from this world, it would mean that I would be saying goodbye to the many people in this world. Selka and the other children I had not met for a long time, the few friends I made at school, Sortiliena-sempai who had been watching over me and trained me as her valet for this past year, and naturally, my one and only «partner» Eugeo.
Ever since a long time ago, I couldn't treat them as simple AIs. Other than the small difference of being in a different soul medium, they were humans like me too. We spent 2 years moving from Rulid to Zakkaria, and finally to Centoria, and I had a firm belief of this during this time.
No, it wasn't just a simple love of friendship with Eugeo and the rest. To this inexplicably wide and beautiful world, I...
I cut off my thoughts at this point, took a deep breath, and buried it deep within me.
I looked up at where I was headed, and an old looking building appeared in my sights. The stone building was 2 stories tall, and the roof was laid with green slate tiles. This was the dormitory where the 120 trainees of the Centoria Master Swords Academy lived.
If possible, I really wanted to leap into the roof of the second level to get back into my room to reduce the hassle, but according to the rules of the dormitory, I couldn't do so. Unlike the elite swordsmen dorm that was rather relaxed, this novice swordsman dorm and the intermediate trainee dorm that was located slightly further away had strict rules similar to the Knights of Blood in the old SAO.
I made up my mind and walked up the stone steps at the front entrance, being ever cautious as I pushed aside the doors of the dorm. I tentatively stepped into the entrance lobby, took 1, 2 steps in— and suddenly, there was a slight cough from the right side. Nerve-wracked, I turned over to look at the source of the voice, and exchanged looks with the woman sitting behind the counter. The tea colored hair was tied up properly, and her appearance was the embodiment of the term 'stern'. She was on the older side of 25 here.
I put my left arm as close to my waist as possible, put my right fist on the left side of my chest, gave a 'Knight's Salute', and loudly declared,
“NOVICE TRAINEE KIRITO HAS RETURNED BACK TO THE DORM!”
“...But it seemed that you were later than the specified time by 38 minutes.”
Watches didn't exist in this world, so humans could only check the time through the «Bells of Time-Telling» located all over the city, including the Academy, which chimed every 30 minutes. Normally, one would require a specialized high level spell to accurately tell the time, but for some reason, she— Miss Azurika, the dorm supervisor, seemed to be using some outside system skill or something else to know that the time was 5.38pm.
I kept my Knight's salute, lowered my voice by quite a bit, and answered,
“That's because I received extended teachings and practical tips from my mentor, elite swordsman Serlut.”
On hearing these words, Sister Azurika stared at me with her blueish-grey eyes. Whether it was the stern presence that surrounded her or the seemingly familiar name, I was reminded of a certain person. I once thought of asking her before I leave “Do you have a relative in the North called Sister Azariya?”, but unfortunately, I hadn't had the chance to do so. Whenever I talked to her, I would most likely get a reminder or a warning, like now,
“...It can't be helped since a valet trainee's duty is to accept the guidance of a swordsman. But Novice Trainee Kirito, perhaps you never used it as a duty, but as an excuse for coming home late... You never cleared this suspicion throughout this past you.”
On hearing this, I moved away from my Knight's salute, put my right hand behind my head, stretched my muscles and forced a smile,
“You-You really like to joke around, Miss Azurika. My aim is only in improving my sword skills, you know? Coming back late is just a side effect. I never intended on it being my main motive, definitely not!'
“I see. So you spent a year working so hard until you broke the curfew limit. Looks like you might have trained yourself to such a refined extent. If you really want to see the results of your training, I'll be really glad to be your sparring partner, you know?”
"Hukk." I froze again the moment I heard this.
Miss Azarika's Sacred Task was to be the 'North Centoria Master Swords Academy, Novice Trainee Dorm Supervisor', and not as a swordsmanship instructor. However, the adults in this Academy were basically all graduates here, so in other words, their proficiency in sword skills weren't ordinary. Every single student here knew that students who didn't break the rules, but did something against them, would be given a horrifying special remedial by her, a Nolgea-style user.
Then, what would happen if there were students who broke the rules— Luckily, such things would not happen. The people living in this world, the Artificial Fluctlights had a unique trait of 'being unable to resist a superior rule'. There was only one exception, me, someone of a different Fluctlight medium.
On thinking about it, it had been a miracle that I never once broke the school rules during this past year. I swallowed this thought that I had nearly spat out, and shook my head hard.
“No, why would I dare to bother you, Azurika-sensei? I just finished my first year of training.”
“Really? Then, let me see the results of your training once you finish your second year course.”
“...Yes, definitely.”
I had to lower my head and pray earnestly that she would forget about this during the next year as I took a step back. Miss Azarika finally turned her eyes back onto the document in her hands and said,
“It'll be dinner time in 17 minutes. Try not to be late.”
"Ye-Yes! Please excuse me!"
I finally bowed, quickly turned around, and dashed up the large stairs on the front side at the maximum speed allowed. Eugeo and I live in room 206 on the second level. There were 10 people living in the room, but the other 8 guys were all somewhat good guys. Those from room 106, where the girls live, and this room 206 were all students with commoner backgrounds. The remaining 100 people were all children of nobility and rich merchants. This was to prevent some awkward interactions in the room... and some other reasons like this. I fluidly avoided the students who were chatting and laughing away in the corridor as they headed towards the cafeteria, opened the door on the far end of the west side, and the moment I walked into the room—
“You're so slow, Kirito!”
A voice greeted me.
Naturally, the one who spoke was the partner sitting on the second to last bed on the right...no, the partner who had stood up, Eugeo.
The body that stood up as he put his hands on his hips was about 3cm taller than 2 years ago, and the physique was a lot sturdier. This was to be expected, since he turned 19 this year— However, that gentle face and the glint in those green eyes never changed at all ever since the time I first met him. During these two years, there were many unhappy events, whether it was during the latter half of the first year in the Zakkaria guards squadron, and the second year when we were learning in this Academy, but that steadfast and upright soul of his never showed a single moment of twistedness.
In contrast, if we're talking about me, I never changed personally, but the scary thing was that my physique had changed just like my partner. I got taller, and my muscles got firmer. I was 17 when I fell into this world. In other words, that meant that there had been a 2 year time difference between me in the real world and me in the Underworld.
After I spent 2 years in SAO before escaping, I went through a rather distinct discomfort, but as I looked at things at this point, it seemed that I might have to spend 3—4 years before getting out... as I continued thinking about such things in a corner of my mind, I walked towards my partner, made a 'sorry' hand gesture with my right hand, and then spoke up,
“Sorry for making you wait. My training with Rina-sempai this time was extra long...”
“...Well, it's the last time today, so it's not like I don't understand.”
Eugeo glanced at me as he said. After that, he suddenly showed a slight smile.
“But in fact, I too was late by 12 minutes. I got too engrossed in talking with Golgosso-sempai while in his room.”
"What, so you were just upstairs... But that's kinda unexpected. I thought Gosso-sempai would definitely be someone who would use swords to give his final teachings."
I walked by Eugeo, got to the innermost bed that was near the wall and built together with a desk, and put my gloves, elbow pads and knee pads into the drawer. If this were the real world, the protective gear for kendo would soon give a disgusting odor if I left it like this, but there wasn't a need to worry about such a thing when bacteria didn't exist in this world. The uniform that was thoroughly soaked in sweat due to practice just now dried up unknowingly — even though Rina-sempai never sweated at all right from the beginning till the end.
After finally freeing myself from the weight, I lifted my head, and Eugeo gave a wry smile as he answered.
“You shouldn't view Gosso-sempai that way, he actually focuses a lot on theory too... No, it's not right to say that. He said that the mental and aesthetic aspects are important too...”
“Ahh, I can understand that. The Valto style that guy uses feels like it focuses more on one-hit-beatdowns compared to the Nolgea style.”
“That's right. The basis of our Aincrad style is to respond at critical moments. However, sempai often told me, 'Sometimes, swordsmen have to stake everything on their firm unshakeable momentum to let out a huge hit!' ...I guess this would be the last of the loose ends for today.”
“I see. That might truly be the case. Now that you mention it, I did feel that your sword moves had become heavier recently... But if I say it, what about me if I combine the Aincrad-style where I have to respond at the crucial moments and the ever changing Serlut-style?”
—Both of us walked out of the room as we exchanged this conversation.
It seemed like the other 8 people from our room already left for the cafeteria since we couldn't see them in the corridor. In this dorm, the only rule about dinner would be that we had to finish our meals before 7pm, so we could reach there slightly later than 6, but we would get into trouble if we miss the prayer before dinnertime. To the other students who were of noble birth, we're just 'arrogant guys who're of mere common birth, yet chosen to be one of the 12 valets'.
We accelerated to maximum battle speed and headed to the large cafeteria on the Eastern-most side. It was no mere coincidence that the commoner students' rooms were located the furthest from the cafeteria. I heard that the elite swordsmen trainee's dorms were similarly the furthest for commoners, but in April, we won't have to take this long road— I guess. That's because we were the top 12 students during the promotion exam at the end of the month, and our future roles as elite swordsmen trainees were confirmed.
At this moment, it seemed that Eugeo was thinking about the same thing as he softly spoke,
“...There are not many days to 'walk quickly down the corridor' left.”
“Ahh, compared to here, the elite swordsmen trainee dorm is complete freedom... But Eugeo, there's something I'm still not used to regarding the life of an elite swordsman trainee...”
“I know without you telling me. It's about having a valet trainee, right?”
“Nice answer. I'm happy that I got to help Rina-sempai do things and accept her guidance... But if I stand in the position of a sempai...”
“Yeah... I don't know what will happen if a noble child becomes a valet...”
Both of us let out a long sigh.
At this moment, we finally finished walking down the long corridor. We pushed aside the door in front of us, and the buzzing atmosphere rushed out from within, surrounding us. The cafeteria occupied both the first and second level, and was the only common facility the guys and girls would use together. Most of the guys, who formed the majority of the 120 students, were sitting together at their tables, and the same goes for the girls, but in the middle, there were some highly skilled people of both genders chatting away and laughing. In that sense, there's not too much of a difference compared to the real world.
Eugeo and I hurriedly walked down the stairs, took the trays that had dinner served from the counter, and went to an empty table in a corner. Then, the 6 o'clock bell rang. Seems like we weren't late. I heaved a slight sigh of relief.
The male student (naturally, a high ranked noble) who was the dorm master stood up and offered a prayer to the Axiom Church. All the students then called in unison «Awai Ardmina». I had no idea what these words were about at all. Finally, it was time to eat.
The dinner menu tonight was deep fried whitefish with vanilla sauce, salad, root vegetable soup and two buns. These weren't much different from the meals prepared by the Church in Rulid Village and the Zakkaria farm, so it was really surprising to see a school with a large number of nobles serving such wild food, but they didn't show any displeasure as they naturally tucked in.
That was because, even though they were nobles, their lifestyles were unexpectedly simple— or not. It seemed that the unique «Space Resource» in Underworld was the reason for this. To elaborate on this, there's the system, 'a limit to how many objects can be produced in a certain area'. That meant that they could only obtain a certain amount of crops, livestock, wild animals and fish during a certain amount of time, and the limit couldn't be broken through.
If the nobles hoarded a large amount of food, there will be some amongst the civilians who would starve to death. Their Life will be reduced. This was something the Taboo Index forbade, 'that other people's Life was not to be reduced without a valid reason', and even nobles or the kings couldn't do so. Thus, in this way, the insistence of having this kind of food is related to maintaining Life, and hoarding food was forbidden ever since the beginning... or so it seemed to be the case.”
But even if they weren't demanding for food to be luxurious, it didn't mean that the nobles were all nice people.
“...That's really inspirationally envying, Lord Raios!”
The moment we inadvertently heard such words from behind us, Eugeo and I showed irritated looks.
?
“We spent so much toil and sweat cleaning the cafeteria, but some people just needed to come in leisurely and have their food. Isn't that really envious?”
Another voice said this line that was obviously meant for others to hear,
“Well, don't say that, Wanbell. The Valet Trainees must be working hard in areas we can't see as well.”
“Kuku, that's true. I heard that valet trainees have to follow whatever their mentors tell them.”
“If, we end up meeting some mentor of common background or some forbidden background, we won't know what we'll be forced to do.”
We'll end up caught in their taunt if we react. That was why I merely turned my back on them and concentrated on moving my fork. But even though I managed to contain my outburst, I couldn't hold back my rage inside. If it were just Eugeo and me, fine, but their 'common background' here would refer to Eugeo's mentor, Golgosso-sempai, and the one with a 'forbidden' background was my mentor, Sortiliena-sempai.
Their patterns of finding trouble with us weren't limited to mocking our mentors. They had been trying to taunt us right from the beginning when they first said that 'some people just needed to come in leisurely'. Even though there were many other valet trainees here beside Eugeo and me, we were the only ones who came in just when it was about time for dinner. In other words, these taunts were already targeted at us.
We met several annoying guys in Zakkaria town before. During the Swordsmanship tournament, that Egome Zakkalight I fought had quite the standard in terms of being snobbish, but the way guys against us in this Academy twist their words really impressed me. This was one of the reasons why the idea that 'the residents in this world are all Artificial Fluctlights, AIs' was completely erased from my mind, and maybe it was because of the rich vocabulary they had.
“...Either way, just hang on for a few days.”
The one who spoke up softly was Eugeo, sitting beside me and tearing the bread.
These words had the meaning of 'we're about to become trainee swordsmen, we're going to different dorms from those guys'. To Eugeo, these might be some competitive words, but they weren't baseless thoughts.
Amongst the 120 Novice Trainees, only 12 would become «Valet Trainees», and they were all chosen by the 12 «Elite Swordsmen» second years from the top freshmen.
Once someone became a valet, there would be no need for them to clean the dorm or repair their equipment. However, after school, the valet had to head to the swordsman trainee rooms, their mentors' rooms, clean their rooms, serve them personally, and act as their sparring opponents.
None of the two who were saying these sarcastic words were named to be valets, which meant that they had worse grades than Eugeo and I during enrollment. During this one year, they had been fluctuating between the 20s and 30s, so it wasn't unreasonable for Eugeo to predict that they wouldn't be swordsmen trainees.
...But in fact, what was going on...?
I continued to mutter to myself deep within my mind as I raised my dinner knife, staring at the figures behind me that were reflected off the shiny silver blade.
The two guys that were sitting at a table slightly far away were continuing with their sarcastic conversation as they continued to look over. The one sitting on the left with grey hair combed behind, covering the back of the head, was called Wanbell Jezeku, and he should be a 4th class noble's kid. On the right, the student with his wavy blond hair tied behind was the eldest son of a certain 3rd class noble's son called Rainos Antinos. In this Academy, first class noble students didn't exist (it seemed that they could already hire a personal teacher and thus be their student at that point), and those of second class noble birth were Uolo Levanteinn and some others. Thus, 3rd class nobles were a rather respected group here.
However, not all high ranked noble students were like that. I didn't actually interact much with them, but Chairman Uolo was always a very silent warrior, and Rina-sempai, who was from a 3rd class noble family just like Rainos, was completely upright and civilized.
In any case, Rainos and Wanbell were completely of the 'young lords who were all talk and no bite' kind of people... But is that really all to them? I had been wondering. I didn't know whether it was lucky of me or not, but I never had anything to say to time as I never fought them before, but there's a possibility that they were taking it easy during the periodic exams every 3 months... Even during the entrance exams.
Naturally, the reason why they did this was due to the fact that the top 12 students would all be chosen to be the valets to the elite swordsmen trainees. In this Academy, this would usually be an honorable thing, but for Rainos and the rest who undoubtedly were the most proud in school, they might be lowering their rank on purpose to avoid being asked by their mentors to do this and that.
Of course, this was some baseless guess, but in actual practice, I felt a chilling pressure after I saw their «styles». I felt that absolute self-conceitedness only those high-ranked nobles would have, and the power of imagination that came from within.
“...Oi Kirito, the plate's empty.”
Eugeo jabbed me with an elbow, and I finally noticed it. I had been using the fork in my left hand to poke at the empty salad bowl that was already empty. I hurriedly put down the knife in my right hand and intended to slice the fried fish, but found that the fried fish had already disappeared unknowingly. It seemed that I was too focused on Rainos' group and didn't have time to enjoy the dinner time, the second moment when I was happiest. Hadn't I been baited by them?
And also, the thing that made me most happy, the training time with Rina-sempai ended today—...
No, not yet. My job as a valet ended officially today, but tomorrow, during the rest day, there's an important promise; The promise to show off my sword skills.
I finally remembered something important, put down my fork and knife, and brought my face over to Eugeo,
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