Part 5
The percussive clear sound echoed in the high spring skies.
Eugeo finished swinging the axe 50 times, wiped away the sweat on his forehead and turned around. I put down the canteen with the Siral water and asked.
"How is your wound? Does it hurt anymore?"
"Un, I managed to recover fully with a day's rest. But there's still a little scar. Also... I don't know if it's my imagination, but it seems that this Dragon Bone Axe became extremely light."
"Doesn't seem like it. 42 out of 50 strikes hit the core."
On hearing that, Eugeo immediately raised his eyebrows, and then smiled.
"Really? Then I'll win the bet today."
"Not likely."
I smiled back, then took the Dragon Bone Axe and used my right hand to swing it lightly. It really felt like the feeling was a lot steadier than I could remember in my memories.
2 nights had passed since the horrific nightmare-like experience in the cave of the mountain range at the edge.
Eugeo managed to keep his life with the help of Selka's sacred art. The sun had already set when I carried Eugeo on my right side and the head of the goblin leader on my left as we returned to Rulid village. Everyone was gathered at the plaza, discussing about whether they would start a search party. As soon as they caught sights of us, they all heaved a sigh of relief, just before village chief Gasupht and Sister Azariya immediately started blasting us with harsh scoldings. Maybe the adults were more freaked out that a supposedly-impossible thing like 3 young folks breaking the «Village Rules» had happened.
However, when I shoved the head of the leader in my left hand right in front of the adults, everyone's reactions changed. Ugachi's yellowish-green eyes that were twice the size of humans, with his ragged sharp teeth and savage face, stared straight at them, and after a moment of silence, the adults let out screams and consternation several times louder than before.
After that, Eugeo and Selka were the ones who mainly explained about the goblin gang camping in the north cave and how they may have been a scouting squad from the land of darkness. The village chief and everyone else looked as if they really wanted to treat this as some sort of childish and outlandish nonsense, but they couldn't laugh when they saw the head of the monster sitting on the stone steps. The discussion immediately changed to defending the village, and we were safely released before dragging our tired feet back home.
I let Selka treat the wound on my left shoulder in the church room, and then collapsed like a pile of mud onto the bed, starting to sleep. The following day, Eugeo and I were allowed off work and enjoyed the luxury and laziness to continue sleeping. Another night passed, and this morning arrived. The shoulder pain and the fatigue in my body had completely disappeared.
After having breakfast, I walked with Eugeo to the forest with the same energetic expression. He finished the first 50 swings— and now.
I looked at the axe in my right hand and said to Eugeo, who was sitting slightly further away.
"I say, Eugeo, do you remember...? In that cave, when you were slashed by the goblin...you said something strange, right? It's like you, Eugeo and Alice and I were friends a long time ago..."
Eugeo didn't answer immediately. He kept quiet for a while as a light breeze blew by, blowing loudly with the trees. A soft voice came with the tail of the wind and entered my ears.
"...I remembered. It should be impossible... but for some reason, I remembered it clearly. I, Kirito, and Alice were born together in this village and grew up together... Alice was standing there the day she was taken."
"...I see."
I nodded and sank deep in thought.
Maybe his memory was all jumbled up in such an extreme situation. I could possibly explain this using that. Since the thing that formed Eugeo's consciousness and personality was the «Fluctlight» just like mine, it wouldn't be inexplicable for him to have some mistakes in his memories at the brink of death.
However, the problem was— in that situation, I had the same memory confusion. I watched Eugeo, who was gradually dying there, and really felt a fresh memory that I actually grew up with him in Rulid village. Also, I even recalled the blond long-haired girl, Alice, whom I've never met before.
This was impossible. This me, Kirigaya Kazuto, has a detailed memory of living with my sister Suguha in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture until today (or more accurately, until I woke up in this world). I didn't feel, nor did I want to think, that they were all fabricated.
Was this phenomenon just an illusion Eugeo and I saw at the same time?
If that was the case, there was only one thing I couldn't explain. When Selka used the sacred arts to transfer my life over to Eugeo and tried to resuscitate him, I did feel the presence of a 4th person in my gradually fading consciousness. That person even said: Kirito, Eugeo, I'll be waiting for you at the top of the Central Cathedral.
I couldn't view that voice as a hallucination created in the midst of my fading consciousness as well. That's because I have never heard of the term «Central Cathedral» until this moment. Of course, there naturally wasn't one in the real world, and even though I have gone through all sorts of virtual worlds, I had never even heard of that place or building before, let alone been there.
In other words, that voice didn't belong to either me or Eugeo, and was even less likely to be Selka; someone actually spoke to me. Would it... be too much of a stretch to deduce that she was the girl Alice who was abducted from the village 6 years ago? If it was really her, did my improbable past in Rulid village together with Eugeo and Alice really exist...?
I interrupted that thought for the umpteenth time ever since I woke up, and said,
"Eugeo. In that cave, when Selka used that sacred art on you, did you hear anyone else's voice?"
Eugeo immediately answered this time.
"Nope. I completely lost consciousness at that time. Did you hear something, Kirito?"
"No... just my imagination. Forget about it... then, let's get to work. My goal is to get in more than 45 times."
I hurriedly chased aside the thoughts in my mind, turned towards the Gigas Cedar again, holding the axe tightly with both hands while concentrating on all parts of my body.
The axe I swung out had followed the trajectory I imagined and traced, looking like it was attracted to it as it hit the half moon-shaped core of the trunk.
***
Today, we ended up finishing the combined 1,000 axe swings 30 minutes earlier than before. That was because both of us weren't that tired and didn't need much rest at all. The number of critical hits increased from the previous week, and maybe it was just my imagination, but it was like our naked eyes could see how much we progressed through the markings on the giant tree.
Eugeo stretched out lazily in a satisfied manner, saying that we should have lunch even though it was early. He sat down on the usual tree root, and I sat down beside him. Eugeo took out two round buns from the cloth beside him and handed them to me.
I took one with one hand and said with a wry smile as I looked at the bread that was still as hard as stone.
"It would be great if this bread could become softer like how the axe feels lighter."
"Ahaha."
Eugeo laughed heartily, taking a large bite and shrugged his shoulders.
"...Unfortunately, it's still the same. Speaking of which...why does it feel like the axe got lighter...?"
"Who knows?"
I said, but I had already predicted this phenomenon the moment I opened my own «window» in the previous night. That problematic Object Control Authority, System Control Authority and my maximum Life had greatly increased.
I could imagine the reason as well. We managed to force the large goblin group in the cave to retreat— in other words, we finished a high difficulty mission, and created a «Level up» phenomenon that was commonly used in normal VRMMOs. I didn't want to experience it again, but taking on a tough battle did bring its rewards.
This morning, I pretended not to know anything as I asked Selka whether she was the same as well. The sacred arts that had a high rate of failure last week seemed like they could be used properly as well. Selka, who never actually took part in the battle, also gained a level up effect. Most likely, all three of us were treated as party members, and everyone gained experience. The way I look at it, this should be an acceptable reason.
Eugeo's Object Control Authority should have increased to around 48 like me. In that case, there was no reason not to try that again.
I finished the 2 round buns in a few bites and stood up. Eugeo was still eating slowly as he looked over. I walked towards the large opening in the Gigas Cedar's trunk and reached out for the Blue Rose Sword bundle that was placed there a few days ago.
I held onto the leather cover while half-believing and half-praying, and used all the strength in my body to lift it up.
"Ohh..."
Immediately, I nearly fell and hurriedly took two steps back. The weight that I remembered feeling like a barbell with maximum weight added, had actually dropped to such an extent that it felt like the weight was closer to a thick metal bar.
The sword continued to press down on my wrist heavily. However, this weight was more of a delightful one, and the feeling reminded me of my beloved swords at the end of the former Aincrad.
I used my left hand to hold onto the leather cover, unfastened the string from it, and used the right hand to hold the sword hilt adorned with beautiful decorations. Eugeo was biting into his bun as he widened his eyes, and I smiled back at him. *Sharin!!* I drew the sword with a spine-chilling unsheathing sound.
Unlike a few days ago, the Blue Rose Sword wasn't the least bit unwieldy as it lay silently in my hand, like a shy and beautiful princess. The more I looked at it, the more beautiful the sword seemed. Whether it was the white leather handle with textures that felt like it was drawing the hand in, the blade's transparency that seemed to hold a complex light, or the intricacy of the Rose and its vine-like patterns, they were all parts that couldn't be recreated by the weapons made from polygons that I was familiar with. It was no wonder that Bercouli in the story wanted to steal it from the dragon.
"Oi... oi, Kirito, you can hold that sword?"
Eugeo looked shocked. *Hyun hyun* I swung the sword around twice to demonstrate to him.
"The buns didn't get softer, but this sword seems to have become lighter. Well, take a look."
I faced the Gigas Cedar again and bent my waist down. My right foot took a step back as I faced the target sideways, using this turning motion to level the sword in my right hand. As I charged up for a moment, the blade was covered with a soft blue light.
"—SEII!!"
I shouted out simply and stamped hard into the ground. The System Assist recognized the matching sword skill impression and caused me to accelerate, giving a slashing hit with tremendous speed and accuracy. It was the one-handed sword skill «Horizontal».
The Blue Rose Sword seemed to flash by like horizontal lightning as it accurately hit with pinpoint precision, causing a tremendous impact sound. The large trunk of the Gigas Cedar trembled slightly, and the birds that were perching around its branches all flew away.
I became engrossed with this accomplishment of «Man being one with the sword» that I hadn't experienced for a long time, and looked over at my right arm extending forward. The light blue and clear silver blade were half embedded into the wooden grain that was glossy with a metallic black light.
This time, Eugeo's eyes and even his mouth widened as he dropped the half-eaten bun onto the moss. However, the boy who was made a woodcutter for his Sacred Task didn't seem to notice, as he spoke with a trembling voice,
"......Kirito......, was that... a «sword skill» just now?"
I guessed so. From what I heard, it seemed that there was a concept of sword skills existing in this world. I just didn't know whether that referred to the sword skills governed by the system or not. I placed the sword into the scabbard in my left hand and cautiously answered.
"Ahh... I guess so, yeah."
"In that case... your Sacred Task before being taken away by the god of darkness might be a yeoman ...no, maybe you were a sentry guard in a large city. Only the soldier forces would teach real sword skills."
Eugeo started rattling away, a rare sight at that as his green eyes were glittering. Upon seeing this, I immediately understood. He was tasked with woodcutting as his career job, and for six years, had continued to swing that axe without complaining— but he undoubtedly had the soul of a swordsman. The admiration for this thing called a sword and the desire to master the sword skills were imprinted deep within him.
Eugeo took a step forward, and another before arriving in front of me, looking straight into my eyes and asking with a trembling voice,
"Kirito... your sword skills, what sect does it belong to? Do you remember, the name of the sect...?"
I thought for an instant, and then shook my head,
"No, I remember. My sword skill is the «Aincrad's Style»."
Of course, this was a name I made up on the spot, but once I have said it out, I felt that no other name could work. That was because all my skills were learnt and honed from that floating city.
"Ain—crad, style."
Eugeo repeated that again as he nodded.
"Such an intriguing name. I have never heard of it before, but this may be the name of your teacher or the city you used to live in... —Kirito, well... I..."
Eugeo suddenly looked down and stammered. But several seconds later, he lifted his head again as the light of determination returned to his eyes.
"—Can you teach me your «Aincrad-style Sword Skills»? I'm not a soldier, or even a guard of the village... so it may be against some sort of rule..."
"Does the Taboo Index or the Imperial... law have some clauses like «those who aren't soldiers can't learn sword skills»?"
I asked calmly. Eugeo bit his lip lightly, and after a while, whispered.
"...There's no such clause... but it's forbidden to have «Many Sacred Tasks». Normally, those who were tasked to the Sacred Task of guards or soldiers could learn sword skills. So, if I start learning sword skills... I might be viewed as giving up on my own Sacred Duty..."
Eugeo's shoulders sank slowly. However, he gripped his fists hard as his tense muscles trembled slightly.
I seemed to be able to see the binds around his heart. The people living in this «Underworld» —the «Artificial Fluctlights» that RATH used some sort of means to mass produce— had a unique point that people like us in the real world didn't have.
Most likely, they would never go against the high-ranked rules that were ingrained into their consciousness. The highest ranked Axiom Church's «Taboo Index» and the Norlangarth Empire's «Fundamental Law» aside, they wouldn't even go against the «village rules» that this Rulid village inherited on their own. They couldn't do it.
Thus, Eugeo could only suppress his urge to look for his childhood friend, Alice, who was taken to the capital. He restrained his heart and continued to swing the axe, facing the giant tree he could definitely never take down in his lifetime.
But right this moment, he wanted to change his own fate through his own will. Of course, he said that he wanted me to teach him sword skills because he had an admiration for them, but more importantly, it was the greatest hope buried deep within his heart all this while... to save the captured Alice that he wanted to gain the strength to fight. Wasn't this line revealing his own desire?
Eugeo lowered his head as he trembled. I watched him silently and kept telling him inside my heart.
—Do your best, Eugeo. Don't give up. Don't lose to the things restraining you. Step forward... take the first step forward. Because you're a swordsman.
At this moment—
The flax-colored haired boy seemed to hear my words as he lifted his face up. The beautiful green eyes had an intensity I had never seen before as they pierced through my eyes. An interrupted trembling voice continued to come out from between the teeth that grit together,
".....But, but, I... want, to be stronger. I won't allow, the same mistake, to happen again. Need to take back... what I lost. Kirito... teach me, the sword skills."
I was really touched inside deep inside my heart, but still continued to suppress these emotions as I smiled and nodded.
"Understood. I'll teach you the skills I know — but the training will be tough."
I changed my expression to a mischievous one as I reached my right hand out, and Eugeo's lips finally relaxed somewhat as he held onto my hand tightly.
"Fine by me. Ahh, really, this is something... I, I, just kept looking forward to."
Eugeo again lowered his head as two, three beads of water slid down his face. There was sunlight shining through the gaps between the leaves. Eugeo stepped forward before I could even be shocked, and buried his face into my right shoulder, letting out a very weak moan that spread through the bodies leaned together.
"Now... I know. I've been waiting for you, Kirito. For six years, in this forest, I've been waiting for you to arrive..."
"—Ahh."
I answered with a random voice and used the right hand wielding the Blue Rose Sword to pat Eugeo's back lightly.
"...I must have woken up here in this forest to meet you too, Eugeo."
I strongly felt that these words I subconsciously said was the real truth.
***
The Demonic Cedar Tree, the tyrant of the forest, the steel-like Gigas Cedar was finally— or should I say easily, chopped down. It was just 5 days after Eugeo and I used the Blue Rose Sword to practice the «Aincrad-styled Sword Skills».
The reason was simple. That giant tree was a perfect training platform. Every time I demonstrated «Horizontal», Eugeo would practice it over and over again, and the cut on the trunk continued to deepen. Once the cut occupied about 80% of the diameter, it happened.
"—SEIAA!!"
The giant tree took the horizontal slash from Eugeo's refined motion and let out an ominous creaking sound that had never happened before.
Both of us stared at each other in a dumbstruck manner, and then at the trunk of the Gigas Cedar that extended all the way into sky, and we froze in shock as we saw the giant tree fall slowly towards us.
However, at this moment, it didn't feel like a large tree was falling towards us, but that the land we were standing on was falling forward. The tree with a diameter of more than 4m succumbed to gravity as it lowered its head towards us, and the scene was so surreal.
Just 80cm —if I described the distance using the unit in this world, it would be «80 cen»— the surrounding roots couldn't endure the tree's own heavy weight and burst into coal-like remains. The giant tree's final cry was a lot more intense than even 10 bolts of thunder from heaven as it was said that the sound of destruction even reached pass the central plaza of the village, all the way to the northernmost guard sentry post.
Eugeo and I cried out at the same time as we split up left and right respectively. The pitch black Gigas Cedar sliced apart the sky that was gradually becoming orange and slowly, slowly fell down. Its large body finally collapsed and laid down on the ground. We took the impact that was ridiculously large and were sent flying into the air. Once we have fallen back and landed on our butts, our lives have dropped by about 50 points.
***
"That really surprised me... there are so many people in this village."
I received a large mug filled with apple cider from Eugeo as I muttered.
At the moment, there were a few clusters of bonfires at the central plaza of Rulid village, lighting up the faces of the villagers gathered there. The band beside the fountain was playing with instruments that looked like bagpipes and very long flutes. Also, there were performers in animal skin dancing with the music in a waltz. The villagers were all clapping and tapping their feet in rhythm as they danced under the night.
I sat beside a table slightly further away, and my feet tapped along with the rhythm. Suddenly, I really felt an urge to jump and dance with the villagers in the circle, which was really unbelievable.
"I think this is the first time I see so many villagers gathered together. There's even more people than the prayer festival at the Saint's Day at the end of the year, definitely."
Eugeo said as he smiled, and I reached out the mug in my right hand. I had no idea how many times we toasted. The foaming beer that was about the same as the apple cider, but when I drank up, my face would still feel hot.
Once they knew that the Gigas Cedar was cut down, the village chief had organized a village council meeting with the more well known villagers. During that time, it seemed that they had a heated debate over what to do with the «Giant tree Cutter» Eugeo— and me.
What was scary was that some people even thought that it was a lot earlier than expected. Basically, it was earlier by about 900 years, and finishing the mission was a mistake and we had to be punished. However, the village chief Gasupht finalized things and decided that no matter what, the entire village had to organize a party to celebrate and deal with Eugeo according to the law.
As for what the law was about, I had no idea as well, and I asked him. He merely smiled and told me that I would know shortly.
However, after looking at his expression, I knew that at least he wouldn't be told off. I finished up the beer inside my mug, grabbed a stick of roasted meat with meat sauce dripping from the plate beside me, and took a huge bite.
Thinking about it carefully, after I came to this world, everything I ate tasted bland, like the round buns and the dishes in the church that were mostly vegetables, so this would be the first time I was eating something with the word meat in it. Besides the tender beef that was coated with thick sauce — there was also the fragrance of something that smelled like meat, which made it really hard to believe that this was the virtual world. Just this smell alone was worth the tough battle against the Gigas Cedar.
However, things would definitely not end just like that. I felt that it should be that we were finally staring at the starting line. I moved my line of sight and looked at Eugeo with the Blue Rose Sword hanging proudly there.
During the past 5 days, he had had sufficient practice with the initial basic one handed sword skill — the one-strike horizontal slash «Horizontal» on the Gigas Cedar.
Just like the randomly named Aincrad-style indicated, this was a sword skill that existed in the old VRMMO game «Sword Art Online».
I could still understand somewhat why this action could be replicated. When I went to the VR game that was based around gunfights, the world of «Gun Gale Online», I used a few sword skills to break through tough battles, but in the end, that was just letting the avatar trace the actions, and there was no light effect or system assist that caused the sword to accelerate with the skill. It's to be expected that these weren't written into the game system.
However, in this other world Underworld, the sword skills all took effect completely. If I did the play motion and imagined the actions of the skill, the sword would glow and accelerate. I was worried that I may be the only one who could do it on the first day of training, but on the second day, Eugeo managed to launch a «Horizontal» successfully for the first time, proving that any of the residents could use sword skills as long as the conditions were met.
The question now would be why such a phenomenon happened. There shouldn't be any relationship between the RATH-developed STL's technical group and the now –defunct Argus that developed SAO. If there was, it would be... that man who introduced me to the strange group called RATH and was once part of the country's task force in the SAO incident...
"Don't tell me..."
I muttered as I started eating the second skewered meat. If the thought I had was true, that guy couldn't just be someone doing the introductions, but someone immediately related to the core of this incident — but I had no way to check this out. If I wanted to get more information, I had to first leave Rulid village and head to the capital way down south.
The largest obstacle to this plan, the Gigas Cedar was chopped down. Then, there was only one thing left to do.
After finishing the meat and vegetables on the metal skewer, I turned to the table and looked at my partner, who was staring at the ring of villagers, before saying,
"I say, Eugeo..."
"Un...what is it?"
"From now on, you..."
But before I could continue, a shrill voice came from above our heads.
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