Hours later, Centoria, Kirito

"Seems like part of the problem is how she's raising him," Kirito mutters as he and Asuna join Ronie as she watches Fanatio toss Berche towards the ceiling of the Great Hall of Ghostly Light. After so long, the council meeting is adjourned, so Kirito has some time to himself.

"W-well, one day he's going to be a knight and ride on a dragon, s-so… It's probably good for him to get used to heights at a young age."

"Between Sheyta's baby and him, the future's going to be a real disast...um, a real delight… And now that my work is done for the day, I'll go check on Unit Two."

"Wh-what? You've already got another one?"

"Yeah, and this one's amazing. Between the heat element engine and thrusters, there's a wind-element compressor, which makes it possible to engage in turbo--"

"Maybe instead of focusing on power, Kirito, you should do something about its safety!"

"Um, ex...excuse me, Kirito…"

Kirito disengages from the fury of Asuna to his nervous looking page. "Yeah?"

"Um, I wanted to talk… Ah, well, I wanted to ask you something, actually…"

Kirito grins. Sure, he wants to check on Unit Two, but he wouldn't put that before spending time with his young page. Whatever she has to ask him must be important. "Yeah, of course. I suppose we can have an early teatime. What about you, Asuna?"

"Well, I'd like to join you, but I'm supposed to be attending a lecture on sacred arts at the Great Library after this."

He shivers. "Ah, I see. Well, the second scribe is intimidating, I'll admit. Better not be late."

Asuna smiles. "Only to students performing poorly." Knowing Asuna, she's probably the star student as she is in the real world, She turns to Ronie and steps back. "Well, I'll see you at dinner, then. Ronie, make sure that Kirito doesn't fill up on sweets."

"I-I will!"

"I'm not a child…" Kirito watches as Asuna exits the chamber doors that heads to the lower parts of the Central Cathedral, then turns his attention back to Ronie. "So… I guess we could go up to the eightieth floor or so. I sure could go for some snowplum cake right about now."

"I'll have the kitchen staff prepare some for you."

"Get me two...no, three slices! I'll see you up there!" Kirito quickly strides away from Ronie before she can interject, heading in the direction of the levitation shaft. While he hopes he gets the three slices, if Ronie really knows her senior, she'd get him the entire cake.

Two years ago, Kirito and his friend Eugeo defeated Fanatio and her Whirling Blades on the fiftieth floor and took the levitation shaft to ascend past the thirty floors between there and the Cloud-top Garden. Once they set foot on the eightieth level, they were met by a girl their age with blonde hair, blue eyes, and golden armor. They saw that girl not recently, as she was the knight that arrested them

Her name was Alice Synthesis Thirty, the Osmanthus Knight, or to Eugeo, Alice Zuberg.

Kirito replays the memories of the fight he had alongside Eugeo against Alice and everything leading up to his coma. The next time he'd see Alice, it would be as he tells Asuna and Koharu to take her up to the World End's Altar and send her to their world. By now, in real time, it's only been about a couple seconds with time in the Underworld moving thousands of times faster.

Hearing footsteps, he turns away from the osmanthus tree his hand lies on to see Ronie approach with a basket, tea kettle, and Tsukigake. "Hi. Thanks."

"This is one of the duties of a page, after all." She sets the area up by spreading a cloth, then assembling the plates for her, Kirito, and her dragon. To Kirito's delight, she did bring an entire cake, plating everyone a slice and pouring tea for the humans. "Dig in."

"Thanks, this looks great!" Kirito does dig in, almost in competition with his page's dragon. He then remembers why they're here, and glances at Ronie. "Hey, did you want to talk about something, Ronie... Ronie?"

"...Oh, s-sorry! Did you want more?"

She must have been deep in her thoughts. "No. I mean, yes...but tht wasn't what I was saying." He hands his plate to her and continues. "Weren't you going to ask me something?"

"Ah… That's right… Um, it was about that steel dragon you created...the dragoncraft."

Kirito takes his plate back and bites into his second slice. "Uh-huh."

"Um, well, I was thinking...er, actually, I was worried that... You might be planning to use that dragoncraft...to fly over the Wall at the End--"

Surprised by her guess, Kirito accidently swallows his food down the wrong chute, coughing and clearing his airway. Ronie quickly hands him his teacup, which he downs in one go before releasing his breath. He then eyes her and smiles. "I should have figured that my page would know me that well. I can't hide anything from you."

"What? Th-then it's true?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

The Wall at the End of the World. It is the barrier that encircles the entirety of the Underworld, much like the End Mountains encircles the empire and separates it from the darklands. Kirito didn't know it existed until he visited the mountain goblins some time ago--Ronie was with him too--and heard about it. According to them, the wall is too high to scale and it cannot even be mined as its material is too hard. 300 years of history, and they've barely made a small chisel in the wall. The giants and ogres provided similar information, so to the people of the Underworld, the wall was impassable. And just to be sure it was impenetrable, Kirito watched as Jaymes thrusted Falchion at the height of its power at the wall. The sword's Release Recollection, the ability to manipulate data as he sees fit, the very power that put an end to Administrator and Vecta, the power that broke a hole in the invincible, self-repairing Central Cathedral… Imagine Jaymes' shock when his blade bounced off the wall like it was dulled.

Yet to Kirito, who has soared past impossible odds many times in the last four years, that meant nothing.

"So, um, well," Ronie stammers, "so does that mean you've already tested whether you can cross the wall with your flying arts?"

"Yep. I tried it and gave up. Couldn't even get over it with wings made of Incarnation, much less flight with wind elements. Seems like geting to a certain fixed height increases gravity to a nearly unlimited… But when I threw a knife straight up from that theoretical elevation limit, it went much, much higher. Meaning that the limit doesn't completely block all objects. I think it selectively blocks humanoids. Growing wings doesn't change my unit ID, after all. So the only option I have is to gamble that by completely sealing myself inside a movable shell, the system would recognize the shell as a nonliving object, allowing me to pass."

"Um, are you saying that you can't cross the wall in your own body, but if your ride that metal dragon, you might be able to get over it?"

"Right, yes, that's correct. The truth is, I've already tried flying paper or leather airplanes--er, dragons--with sacred arts and Incarnation. But it didn't work. If I'm moving them myself, it seems to treat them like clothes or armor. The dragon has to be able to fly on its own. But if its' going to withstand the temperature of heat elements, it needs to be made of metal, and it needs power to be able to push it all that weight, which means more heat elements, and it's just a vicious cycle, you see…"

Ronie looks like her head is about to explode. Kirito realizes he's explaining his world's modern technology to a world that's equivalent to a fantasy medieval period. "Wow, that all sounds very complicated… Oh, I mean, not that! I wanted to ask you about something else."

"Hmm? What?"

"Why do you need to go over the wall? I was your page for a long time, so I understand your instinct to want to overcome any obstacle you're faced with...but I feel as though there are...more important things to focus on now?"

Sensing she feels some shame for almost lecturing him, Kirito reaches over and pats her shoulder. "Thanks, Ronie. I feel bad for making you worry all the time… But the truth is, I happen to think that getting over that wall is actually the highest priority in all of the Underworld right now."

"Um...what does that mean?"

Kirito decides to let Ronie in on a secret that only the Real Worlders know. As far as he knows, Jaymes has kept it to himself, not extending it to anyone in the Council of Five or anyone he trusts in both regions. "Listen, don't tell anyone else. Not even Tiese or Fanatio… At this rate, there's going to be another war."

"...N-no, that can't be! We finally reached an era of peace!"

Kirito shakes his head. "I'm afraid that's not going to last very long… The Eastern Gate collapsed, trading began between the two worlds, and tourists have come in great numbers from the Dark Territory. For now, they are enjoying the sights and foods that are rare and exotic to them. But eventually, they won't be able to help but notice the definitive difference between the two worlds."

"Difference?"

"Yes. The human realm is far too rich in resources, and the dark realm is far too poor. You saw that red sky and the dark-black charcoal. The land around Obsidia was the only place that was reasonably lush, but the demi-humans have no claim to that place--it's run by humans. Slowly but surely, unrest will build among the goblins, orcs, and giants. Jaymes recognized this and tried to alleviate it, but whether it is due to the poor allocation of resources or some other matter beyond his power, the land won't become fertile. And even if he figures it out, the fact remains that he can only do so much there before his own power dries out."

"Kirito… I…"

"I'm sorry, I'm not criticizing you. Nobody can help it, that's just how the Underworld was built to begin with. It was designed for war to happen between the starved dark realm and the rich human realm. War did break out, and many lives were lost. All we managed to do was avoid the worst possible ending. So for the sake of those who did die, we have to make sure that history doesn't repeat itself."

"B-but, what should we…"

"There's only one answer. The demi-humans need land they can be proud of--something more than the distant wastes that humans drove them to. They need real countries of their own, where they don't have to be the 'nonhumans.'"

"Real countries… Kirito… I… I..." Ronie hangs her head and tears up, her mind probably on the situation of the Dark Territory. She, like Kirito, saw the poor conditions of the mountain goblins, and now expands that to the vast majority of the realm. Kirito feels for their plight too, but he can't do much more than supply them. He rubs her head and apologizes.

"I'm sorry, Ronie. I knew that talking about this might upset you. But you don't have to be so hard on yourself. We're able to send supplies to the dark realm because we reined in the extravagance of the emperors and nobles, and we rebuilt the human realm really quickly. Neither of those things would have happened without your hard work. So the truth is, you've been doing your part to help them already."

"Do you...really think so?"

"I do. I've been to the mountain goblins' land since then, and the children you gave bread to still remember you." He reaches out with a handkerchief and wipes her eyes and cheeks, then waits for her to lift her head..

"Thank you. I'm fine now… I'm sorry for crying in the middle of our conversation."

"I knew you were a crybaby since your first year at the academy, Ronie."

That earns him a glare, rightfully so, but Ronie does seem to be better as the conversation continues. "Um… I think I understand your thoughts on the matter now. The goblins and orcs need beautiful, fertiles lands just like in the human realm. If there's no place like that in the Underworld, we'll have to go beyond the End of the World. And the first step to doing so is getting past the wall with that dragoncraft...is that correct?"

"You got it, but I bet that the real hard part comes after crossing the wall."

"But...is there really another side beyond the wall? What if it simply continues forever and ever?"

"I've considered that, but the thing is…if that wall really is the end of the world, I don't think there's any need for it to be a wall at all. It would simply be an impenetrable address. Something like a void."

"A void… Like some invisible space that can't be traversed?"

"That's right. But the Wall at the End of the World is an actual, physical wall--an extremely tall and tough one, that's all. What if the reason for that is to keep the residents of the world from facng some phenomenon they're not prepared to understand? It's possible that the end of the world will no longer be the end once you've gotten there… Though it all depends on how much spare power and space the Main Visualizer has, of course." Seeing Ronie's face contort, he realizes he's saying too much for her again. "Sorry, when I'm talking with you, I seem to have a habit of just saying whatever's in my head. Let's see… How about this? The fact is, there's no end to the world."

"No...end? So...you're saying...beyond the Wall at the End of the World, there'll be more land like the human and dark realms...with meadows and forests and deserts, continuing forever?"

"Mhm. How do I explain this… Ah. Come over here." Standing, he reaches a hand out to Ronie and leads her over to a narrow window at the edge of the Cloudtop Garden. "There. Look at that." He points to the east, where the sky begins to dark and the moon rises. Seeing the moon faintly brings the image of his friend Koharu--who the Underworlders called Lunaria due to her appearance--but he pushes that aside to make his point. "It sure is round, isn't it?"

"Y...yes, it's round," Ronie replies with an "It's so obvious" tone.

"That moon isn't a flat circle in the sky. It's a spherical body. That's why it gets bigger and smaller, as only the parts lit by Solus's rays are visible… That's something you learn in school in Centoria, right?"

"Of course. At the youth training academy, we are taught that it is the golden jewel that is the throne of Lunaria in the celestial realm. It's how… I knew it was her back during the war, when she came from the moonlight."

Jaymes told Kirito a similar tale. When Asuna and Koharu descended on the world, Asuna came down "from the heavens, as you'd imagine where heaven is" but Koharu "dropped down from the rays of the moonlight, like she came from the ascending moon." It was Ronie, under attack by one of the enemy humans from their world (a long time enemy, in fact) who called Asuna and Koharu by their goddess names, Stacia and Lunaria.

"Ah. Well, um...the truth is, I've got a fairly strong hypothesis that this world, including the human realm and the dark realm, is actually part of a sphere, just like that one."

"Wh-what? A sphere?"

"Yeah. It's what we call a planet. If you look to the sky from the highest point to the horizon, it has a curve to it, right? Then again, I've never been to a world that hasn't been spherical if there is one such as that, but in any case, that's how you can tell."

Ronie looks absolutely flabbergasted. Of course, this is breaking her view on reality, not enough to challenge the Seal of the Right Eye, just her normal mentality. It wasn't too long ago that she learned from Jaymes that there was a world outside of this one where he, Kirito, Asuna, Koharu, and all who came to their aid during the war originate from. Not heaven, as she thought of when Asuna and Koharu descended, but the Real World, another realm of humans. Kirito didn't want to blow her mind further by explaining how there were worlds of floating castles, a world where people with wings can fly, a desolate world where ranged weapons stronger than bows dominate, and many more.

"So...if this world is the same type of sphere as the moon...then does that mean the moon has meadows and forests and towns with people living on them, too?"

"Huh?" That was not the question he was expecting, but by how he defined a spherical world, and what he knows back in his world, her question is not totally wrong. There's a more complicated answer to that, but he finds it better to answer in simplest terms. He'll leave the science talk to Jaymes. "Yes, you might be right. Depending on the distance to the moon, it might be not just a small satellite but another planet of an equivalent size… But we'll find that out once we go there."

Ronie smiles and leans closer to Kirito. "When you do, I will accompany you. As your page."

Kirito chuckles and gazes to the stars. "I'd better build a nice, big dragoncraft, then."