A/N: Late-night upload for me, this time. I just hope I marked all the scene-breaks correctly. I don't think there's anything else I need to say, except thank you for 2000 total views! I even managed to get just as many views on the last chapter as the one before. Now please, please tell me why you keep reading. I don't want to just blindly throw bread into the pond and see how many ducks come to eat, I want to know if I'm even bringing the right bread.
It was hard for Kizmel to hold all three of us, so she released as many as would let go. Kirito was the first to free himself, myself last after Asuna held on for five seconds after Kirito.
December 24th, 2022 – 17:56 AST. A few hours removed from fighting the Biceps Archelon, we had rowed about as far from its lake as Rovia was on the other side of it, where the major guilds were throwing a Christmas party. Not wanting to mingle with the hundreds of attendants, as we would eventually hear, we instead went to Yofel Castle to reunite with the Dark Elven Royal Guard we had saved on the third floor – the lattermost point, previously thought to be impossible.
"I always believed we'd see you before long," the fencer rasped as she traced a finger down the side of her eye, "But I'm still so happy to see you."
Kizmel smirked at me as I slowly let go of her. "You're not the happiest to see me, Asuna."
It was only then, that it occurred to me that she was not in armor, but rather; a long, deep purple dress which didn't hinder her slender form's ability to squish against my chest. I hastily hoped that certain natural reactions weren't simulated at the rate it normally occurred.
The dark elf's eyes breezed over the three of us, as her face reverted to a regular, cheery smile.
"I'm surprised that you knew to find me here. Isn't this your first visit to this castle?"
I chuckled softly as I recalled the beta. "It appeared in my prior visions. This tree was not nearly as beautiful as it is in truth."
Her smile grew at my answer, as she looked up at the massive tree. "My sister loved the oil refined from this juniper. Perhaps that's why I found myself here…"
I couldn't help but smile as she did. "Juniper, huh? In our world, it's used to flavor alcohol."
"Is that so? I shall have to try it sometime… At any rate, thank you for coming. I suppose you three vanquished the guardian beast in the Pillar of the Heavens without trouble."
Asuna nodded. "Among many others of us, yes. It helped that the base commander warned us of its poison attacks."
Kizmel nodded in kind. "Yes, he is a trustworthy man. I wish to rejoin the advance party again, down on the third floor, as soon as I can. But…"
She looked down at the dress she was wearing and squinted. It was difficult to not follow the exact path her eyes took, and she quickly noticed my failure with another smirk.
"Well, shall we go back inside? You must be hungry after rowing all this way, yes?"
I licked my lips, hoping she wouldn't suspect the other kind of hunger. "I did it all, but we just fought the guardian of the lake to the north, as well."
She chuckled on her way past, as we followed her to the dining hall on the second floor of the west wing in the fortress. Nearly everyone seated at the tables were soldiers in leather armor, but there were also robed elves and some small children – the robed ones couldn't have been mages, as the magic available in Aincrad was much weaker than on the surface.
"They are priests who serve the Holy Tree," Kizmel told us as Kirito noticed them too, "They were dispatched from the palace on the ninth floor to oversee our operation to retrieve the keys."
"And the children?" asked Asuna.
"They are the children of the castle's master. Such bright young spirits." Following her answer, she guided us to a table at the back. The elven maid NPCs brought out appetizers, and then full-course meals of soup and roast chicken. No cake like in a traditional Japanese Christmas, but it had to be scripted this way for the holiday, surely.
We had a view of the snowy juniper in the courtyard through the hall's large window, as we all ate amid conversation about the waterways of the floor. Kizmel was intrigued by our swim from the starting pavilion, and the battle against Magnatherium to build our boat. She also answered Kirito's question about lumber: Dark Elves respected aged flora enough to avoid cutting a living tree, not having any particular law against it – of course, they still harvested trees that fell to monsters.
After a fruity dessert, Kizmel took us to the officers' room on the fourth floor of the east wing – it sounded that much more confusing to say; the fourth floor of a fortress, on the fourth floor of a floating castle – this was a suite of two bedrooms and a shared living room.
"Use this room while you are staying at the castle," Kizmel offered.
"Oooh, what a lovely place!" Asuna cried, racing to the large window in the back. "You two boys probably don't mind taking one room?"
"N-No, of course not," Kirito hastily answered, and I agreed more calmly.
"In that case, I will be in the adjacent room to the left of this one," Kizmel affirmed from the door behind us, "Knock on the door if you need anything. Enjoy your rest tonight; you must be tired."
She shut the door, and her footsteps faded. The east and west doors led into each bedroom of the suite to which she'd brought us.
Asuna turned to us with a shrug. "At least this time, the rooms are technically separate."
"As long as it works for you," Kirito chuckled nervously.
She then turned her attention moreso to him. "SAUER said it was your idea… The Christmas present was reuniting us with Kizmel, right? That was a wonderful present. Thank you."
The young boy nodded as his speech became a mumble. "You're welcome. I'm also glad to see her again. She seems a little subdued, though."
"Yeah… That dress looked very nice on her, but I don't think she was wearing it out of choice."
I nodded in agreement with Asuna's point. "Probably the same reason she's still up here. If she had her combat gear and all, she'd be back on the third floor."
"Hey, that made me think," Kirito directed his speech toward me, "SAUER, you've had a hand in the programming of AI in your studio's games, haven't you? Why do you think Kizmel is so advanced?"
Asuna blinked at Kirito's question, and turned her attention to me, as well. I cupped my chin in contemplation for a moment.
"Well, she was supposed to die in the first quest, right? When her body would despawn, the script followed by the elven NPC would be given to the next one that appeared for another party. What would complicate such a process, would be if a mob object was left in the field without a script to follow after the meat of the scene passes. Possibly, this game's system is advanced enough, that it possesses the capability to write up an interim routine for the object to adhere to through the day."
Kirito slowly nodded, Asuna even slower, as she leaned against the window.
"However," I continued, "The system might not know what kind of response to give to such an NPC when its new routine is interrupted by player interaction. And it may feel the need to tie a specific response to a specific element of the game. So, it instead pulls all surrounding elements into a large collection of predictions to prepare it for certain queries. Then, when a response is needed, it will connect the input with relevant information, and generate an answer. It could possibly copy this particular block of code, isolate it to the flagged object, and give the object permission to use that script made for it, and to store details from previous responses to aid in constructing new ones."
Kirito tilted his head, seeming perplexed. "Have you… ever done something similar in any non-VR project before?"
I shrugged. "I did make a tech demo for a dating sim, using a neural network like that isolated code block I mentioned at the end of that explanation. You could talk to the girl, and she would begin to associate words with each-other using context clues, in order to stay on topic. That was before the elder Harbinger twins started working on a full dating sim project, though."
Asuna stretched by the window. "Ahh… It's taking quite a bit of energy to keep up with that. Which bedroom are you two taking?"
"We'll go on the west," I answered, noticing the bathroom next to the east one, "In the meantime, though, I might check out the bathhouse on the third floor – the tub is more like a pool, really."
"A… pool? So, no separation…?"
"Nope," I shook my head, somewhat sympathetically, "For its size, co-ed bathing was common in almost every piece of fantasy fiction. Only in proper tubs, was privacy expected. Learned that when first playing Dungeons & Dragons – I had written up a tsundere female bard."
True to the 'tsundere' term, my first tabletop RPG character, Fjora Lamoureaux, had started out cold towards most of the suitors in the party, until meeting a male paladin named Bastion. As she began mellowing out, she grew closer to Bastion over the in-game months, and when his player made the difficult decision to retire from tabletop games, he gave me Bastion's character sheet following his engagement to Fjora in the third post-campaign session after finishing Tomb of Annihilation.
I explained most of that to Kirito and Asuna on the way, taking the grand stairs at the center of the fortress to the third floor, and into the far end of the west wing. Past the arch frame, red carpet was replaced by white marble tiles. Through a left arch, the water. Through the right, a changing room.
"Hmm… This would be a good time for the Crystal Bottle of Kales'Oh," I quipped absentmindedly.
"Oh! You're right!" piped its owner, sliding over into a wicker chair in the changing room. She then materialized multiple items – mostly cloth and a box of sewing tools – from her menu, and after equipping her Tailoring skill from the aforementioned bottle, she tapped the scissors to bring up a selection of designs, then after swiftly cutting a white cloth, it shifted into two shaped pieces which she then prodded at the hem with a needle to prompt the system into sewing it together. In about a single minute, she had in her hands, a one-piece swimsuit with a thin X-shaped neck strap, with the centerpoint of the cross likely to rest at collar height.
"Huh. You know, I didn't even think of that," I chuckled, impressed, "I was making a joke about the possibility that there might have been a skill that would have found us another solution."
"Well, there was!" Asuna giggled proudly, holding up the swimsuit. "As for you two…"
I glanced at Kirito, and then smiled at the fencer. "I mean, the game should let us wear them. Sure."
"They can be your gifts, too," she replied cheerfully as she got straight back to work. She cut a black cloth and sewed up a pair of surf shorts, then plucked a scrap of orange cloth from her pile and proceeded through the settings in another cycle that made the shorts glow a second time. She then held up the shorts, and flipped them around to show Kirito.
"Huh?! Why would…!"
"Merry Christmas!" Asuna giggled as she handed him the shorts, featuring a bright orange bear face on the back. Kirito sighed as he accepted them.
"What have you got in mind for SAUER?"
Asuna scrunched her face in thought. "I think I might have something."
Returning to her craft, she cut up black cloth again, and included a blue scrap. After two cycles of navigating the settings, the new shorts glowed with completion before she handed it to me.
"What did she do for you, then?" asked Kirito, immediately, as I flipped the shorts over.
"A gondola. Interesting… Thank you, Asuna."
"You're welcome!" she beamed as she headed behind the clouded glass door at the back, and then cried out in wonder at her handiwork. As she stepped out, Kirito went in, giving my jaw time to fall.
"God damn, you do a hell of a job…!"
She rolled her eyes as if she expected my reaction to be inevitable, and then Kirito stepped out in those new shorts. I promptly slipped behind the door to change as well, and then followed the two into the bath chamber, which was devoid of elves.
The floor tiles were a pure ivory white, and the bath itself was made of the ebony basalt we saw on the way to the fortress, but polished to a perfect sheen along the horizontal grooves. And as I had pointed out before, it was as large as a pool, the gold faucet continuously pouring in as the water cascading over the lip found its way to the small drains dotting the floor. The west and south walls featured huge floor-to-ceiling windows that offered a view of the lake outside and the falling snow.
The three of us took our time getting into the water, after I convinced Kirito not to do a cannonball. Silence followed for a few minutes as we adjusted to the sensation of the water, before the fencer wearing the open-back one-piece initiated conversation from the southwest corner of the tub.
"It's amazing… The water of the bath and the surface of the lake melt together so that it looks like we're floating in the sky…"
I smiled looking out the same window as her, looking out over the lake below. "It really does, huh?"
"You know what they call the pools that look like they connect to the ocean or a lake? Infinite-edge pools. You find them at resorts and place like that overseas."
Kirito lifted his head, intrigued. "Infinity Edge kind of sounds like a Sword Skill."
Asuna giggled at his comment. "You're right. Probably a dagger skill."
"No, I'd say rapier," he answered without hesitation.
"I could see it as Katana or Two-Handed Sword," I contributed to the thought.
Then we heard the door opening behind us. Asuna sank to just below her mouth, as Kirito and I turned to see who was coming. We saw a yellow cursor over a feminine figure.
"So, here you three are."
Almost immediately upon hearing the familiar voice, Asuna leapt out of the tub and stopped Kizmel from passing through the steam. She took the dark elf to the changing room, and after a couple of minutes, the two returned – except now, Kizmel wore a purple two-piece bikini, the top being tied together at the front as it cradled the weight above.
Seeing Kizmel's chocolatey skin complemented by Asuna's crafted articles, made me curious of the potential degree to which NPCs this advanced could resemble players. We had seen that she could level up, at least; did she have a tangible inventory? Did she have actual skill slots filled by the right skills pertaining to the behavior of standard Dark Elven Royal Guard mobs? How far could she get through the game's progression system without the humans' Mystic Scribing charm? And to what degree would our Mystic Tomes recognize her growth and her interactions with us? If the queen allowed her to marry a human, would the game mechanically understand that the player was really married? Or would she simply be marked as a specially-bound NPC, while the player could still just marry another player? Would the queen even parse a player attempting to propose to an NPC?
Regardless, Kizmel sat on the edge of the tub, her legs in the water just an inch from my left arm.
"So, you humans wear these 'swemsoots' when you bathe together. SAUER did explain that you typically only bathe alone. Although, he doesn't act the way he claims, himself."
Asuna tilted her head. "What do you mean by that?"
"I was just looking out for you two," I interjected hastily, "I knew it'd be jarring for either of you if Kizmel had walked in on you without any prior understanding of what she's accustomed to."
"That… doesn't sound like an answer to my question."
"W-Well, how do you expect I realized that I had to warn her of how you'd react?"
The fencer's eyes made the water feel colder around me for a moment, before her expression then softened unexpectedly. "I suppose that is the only way it could happen."
"If the size of this chamber is still too intimate, you would be pleased to see the one in the queen's castle on the ninth floor – complete with a view of the entire floor, as it is higher up."
Asuna's attention turned to Kizmel immediately, who shook her head sympathetically.
"I'm afraid that only the noble officials and the queen's sworn knights can use it, though."
I chuckled at this information. "You've still never seen a human try to achieve knighthood."
Kizmel smiled and rested her palm on my head. "You should focus on making it up there."
Asuna giggled as I leaned my head back into the elf's hand. "Well, this bath is wonderful itself. I just wish I had the time to stay in this fortress…"
"Speaking of the time to stay," Kizmel replied as she looked down at me, "You've seen Yofel Castle, surrounded by lake water and cliffs on all sides – impenetrable as it appears. From time immemorial, it has never fallen to an attack by goblins, orcs, or even Forest Elves."
"Well, the Jade Key is here now, right? Makes it a bigger target, doesn't it?"
Kizmel nodded. "Not only that, but because of its safety, the troops stationed here are too lax. They have driven back Forest Elf attacks enough, but the Forest Elves have their fortress on land and have barely any ships. Winning every time through an easy advantage causes one's skills and heart to get soft rather swiftly."
The irritation in her voice was somewhat amusing to me, but I knew I had to keep paying attention, while her feet kicked around the surface of the water.
"On top of that, the priests demand no metal armor within the castle grounds, as they find the noise unpleasant. With people like that around, it's no wonder that things around here are getting soft…"
I turned my upper body to look back at her properly. "Don't let that gorgeous dress collect any dust when you finally get to gear up again."
A small chuckle escaped Kizmel's lips. "You won't start to miss the dress anytime soon, I'm sure."
I shrugged. "Well, if the Forest Elves don't have any space to put ships, don't you think they would realize that they need them, even if they had to have them stored somewhere…"
My voice trailed off as I mentally answered my own question. Kirito and Asuna looked at me with confusion as they waited for me to finish my thought.
"…Stored exactly where they're being built! That's what they're for!"
Kirito raised an eyebrow as Kizmel lifted herself from the edge of the tub. "You mean the Fallen…"
I snapped my fingers and pointed to my fellow tester. "They're building them for the Forest Elves."
Kizmel stood up properly, as I climbed out of the tub as well. "The Fallen are on this floor?!"
Kirito and Asuna nodded as I began to explain. "We followed a suspicious boat to this cave, where Fallen Elves were unloading empty boxes from said boat. They're taking apart the boxes for wood, using it to build ships. They will be ready three days from now, according to General N'ltzahh."
The quest log jingled, updating «Shipwright of Yore». The 'appropriate person' was the player's respective elven faction – for us, the dark elves, through Kizmel. The XP from the quest immediately pushed Kirito to Level 17, Asuna to 16, and myself to 18. We opened our menus and assigned our attribute points on the way up to the fifth floor of the fortress, getting re-dressed as well.
Past the two guards that stepped aside upon Kizmel's approach, a door led into a large office space with curtains over every window, darkening the room. A polished blackwood desk sat at the back, upon which sat a lamp, parchment, and an ink bottle. And on the other side, a silhouette in the darkness beyond the reach of the lamp, with a yellow cursor above. «Yofilis: Dark Elven Viscount». Kizmel performed the dark elven salute of her right fist to her left breast.
"Viscount Yofilis, pardon my interruption. I have an urgent matter that requires your attention."
"Before I hear your report, may I ask why you have two humans with you, Kizmel?"
As Kizmel lowered her head to bow, I performed the same salute, and placed the scroll on the desk. Extending from the darkness, a slender hand took the scroll, and the seal evaporated to unroll the parchment.
"…Ahh, I see. You are the ones who helped us recover the first key. I suppose it wouldn't do to feed you to the lake fish, then."
I exhaled from my nose upon seeing Kirito's expression following that joke at the end, as Yofilis put away the scroll in a drawer, and handed me three rings of silver, engraved with the horn and the scimitar composing the dark elves' sigil.
"Wear those, and you will not be harried by the soldiers of Lyusula. Assuming you do not betray our patronage, of course."
I bowed and handed one ring each to Kirito and Asuna. As the three of us equipped them, I noticed that Kirito was full up on rings – only one could be worn per hand, and he had the one from the previous floor's quests on his right hand.
"So, Kizmel. What is this report you have?"
"My lord, according to the human warriors Kirito, Asuna and SAUER; our sworn foe, General N'ltzahh of the Fallen Elves is on this floor."
The viscount's hand rapped the desk, voice still ambiguous of age or gender. "…Ahh. This is indeed important tidings. What is that villain plotting this time?"
"Well… It seems that the Fallen have made a serious deal with the Forest Elves," Kizmel began, and then summed up everything we told her.
"I see… and do you know the number of ships the Fallen are building?"
Kizmel looked to us for an answer, and I gave the best I could. "There had to be 50 boxes there, and one could almost make a two-seater… Uh, I'd say ten ships, all ten-seaters."
Yofilis replied from the darkness. "Hmm. We have eight ten-man ships at the castle. And they will attack with more than that?"
Kizmel spoke up again. "My lord, I do not doubt the mettle of the castle's troops… but should we not transport the first and second keys up to a higher floor?"
The viscount sat in silence for a moment. "There is merit to Kizmel's proposal. We cannot afford for the keys to be stolen again. But the duty of the people of Lyusula has always been to ensure the six keys are spread apart, so they might not be gathered. If we send the first and second keys to the next floor up, they will join the third. This is not a desirable outcome…"
As Kizmel nodded, I piped up in curiosity. "You mention Lyusula specifically. Do the other elves have differing beliefs about the keys?"
The viscount took a deep breath. "Beliefs are all that we are certain of. Even as the latest viscount of Yofilis, a line extending back before the Great Separation, I only know a small part of the legend that surrounds the keys. The only person who knows the entire truth is our queen. No… It might be true that even Her Majesty does not know the real truth."
"But Viscount Yofilis," Kizmel started, but the viscount raised a hand.
"No, forgive me for saying that. Human warriors, this is all I can tell you. The people of Lyusula, they believe that if the six secret keys are gathered, allowing the door of the Sanctuary to be opened, terrible ruin will come to Aincrad. Meanwhile, our ancient enemies, the Forest Elves of Kales'Oh, follow a different interpretation. They believe that opening the Sanctuary will return all the floors of Aincrad to their original locations on the surface and restore the great magic to the elves."
"Interesting…" I mused, cupping my chin, "The Fallen couldn't work with the Forest Elves for long."
"Hmm? Is there a reason for conflict to arise between them?" Yofilis asked.
I nodded slowly. "General N'ltzahh said that the Fallen Elves would open the Sanctuary, and even the greatest magic of humankind would disappear."
"…Magic of… humankind?" repeated the viscount, "Kizmel. Do you know what this magic is?"
Kizmel glanced back at us. "Well… though they are far inferior to those of elvenkind, the humans still have a number of ancient charms available to them. The only ones that I am familiar with, would be the charm of Mystic Scribing, in which their arms and tools are placed within tiny paper scrolls, and the art of Farscribing, to send written messages to distant places in an instant…"
The former had been mentioned before, being our regular menus. The latter charm, however, likely referred to our instant messaging system.
"Ahh. They do sound useful, but…" Yofilis inhaled deeply in thought, "I cannot imagine that N'ltzahh would go to the trouble of aligning with the Forest Elves just to take such paltry charms away."
The sheer number of mechanics accessed through the menu, would make us sitting ducks if it were lost, which meant that the game would not allow a Fallen victory in the war, for the sake of a fair opportunity for the players to escape.
"But in any case, the Lapis Key sealed on this floor probably ought to be retrieved. The castle guards must prepare for the Forest Elves' siege. Warriors of humankind, will you assist Kizmel in recovering the second key?"
The gold exclamation mark appeared in the darkness, and I answered. "We will help, for sure."
The quest marker turned to a questionmark, feeding a new quest into the log. Kizmel bowed deeply once more to the viscount, and turned to us.
"It is a critical but dangerous duty, but I am overjoyed to fight alongside you again. Let us all work together again, Asuna, Kirito, and SAUER."
"You bet!" answered Kirito.
"Let's do it, Kizmel!" replied Asuna.
"Finally!"
Upon my response, her HP bar and name slid into the fourth space in our party list at the upper left.
Once we'd walked far enough from Yofilis' chamber to be out of the guards' sight, Kirito stretched.
"Ooooh, that was nerve-racking…"
"I do not blame you," Kizmel replied, "The viscount is one of the most elderly of even the Dark Elves. I was a bit nervous myself."
I blinked with curiosity. "Elvenkind don't discuss the exact numbers much, do they?"
Kizmel cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Of age? No. Especially not when asked directly. Let us just say that I am considerably younger than Viscount Yofilis."
"When-abouts do elves start to show their age?" I asked, hesitantly.
"…It is hard to tell, even for us."
"Fair enough. Now, you said the priests seem to be making more of the decisions around here…?"
"You could say that. Viscount Yofilis suffers from a very challenging ailment. Because of that, he can't be exposed to bright light. He has been in that chamber for so long, most of the soldiers here have never even seen his face…"
I nodded as we arrived in the quarters again. "Long life does not mean exceptional health, I see…"
"Correct. The priests let their influence run unchecked because they are out of his sight. And yet they will be useless in a battle. It is a troubling state of affairs…"
Kizmel turned to us as she stood in front of her room. "At any rate, I appreciate all of the very crucial information that you three have brought with you. It is late already, so let us begin our duty in the morning. Get your rest – do not stay up all night."
"We promise," Asuna answered.
"Good night, Kizmel," said Kirito.
"Sweet dreams," I wished her. She smiled as she entered her room, her party slot sparkling away.
Asuna, Kirito, and I returned to the suite next door, ten yards down. It was already past 10PM as we looked at the properties of the rings we got – the Sigil of Lyusula, adding 1 Agility and a small bonus towards skill proficiency gain. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Asuna change which finger she was wearing hers on, and sharply exhaled in amusement at her red face.
"So, before we go to bed," Kirito yawned mid-speech, "I want to ask about the castle master's name. What's a v… 'viss-count'?"
"Vigh-count," I chuckled at his struggle with the V alone, "It's a noble rank. From the top down, it's usually Duke, Marquis, Count, Viscount, and Baron. The Dark Elves may use a different system."
Asuna nodded. "I was going to say roughly the same thing. But I'd trust the English-speaker."
I smiled as I approached the west bedroom. "Someday, I should teach you two how to use the Latin letters that aren't normally present in romaji."
"Hmm. It could be your gift to us, I suppose?" Kirito suggested with a shrug, "Shall we get up at six, tomorrow?"
"Six, it is," Asuna answered, as she looked back at him, "And… I said it before, but I mean it – thanks for today. It was more enjoyable and lovely than any Christmas Eve I had in the real world."
I chuckled softly at Kirito's silence. "Your parents would surely be busy, Asuna, right?"
"Pretty much every year, yes. They came home very late, and I had to eat the cake by myself."
Kirito smiled as he murmured a response. "If I'd remembered the holiday at all, I would have tried getting a cake prepared."
"There's always next year," Asuna giggled as she opened her door, "Well, good night."
"Night." "Night."
She shut her door, and we went to the other bedroom. A double-bed in the middle, a large chest for extra storage beneath the window, and a dresser with a three-sided mirror.
"Next year? We probably could still be here by then, huh, SAUER?"
I nodded as we flopped onto the bed after removing our armors. "If we get close to the beta pace, roughly eight floors a month, we should have one more Christmas just before we clear the game."
Kirito shook with a chuckle. "We'll never get back to that pace."
I shrugged. "Maybe we just need more holidays throughout the year. I might encourage everyone to acknowledge more frequently, some of the western ones that have already spread to Japan, such as Easter and Halloween. I know Valentine's Day is celebrated about as much as it is in the west."
The boy glanced toward the door, thinking about the other door across the suite.
"Let's not wonder about how she'd treat that holiday," he joked as he stared up at the ceiling.
"You never know. She might be grateful to be reminded of its existence."
As Kirito shook his head in doubt, we heard the other door open. We thought it might have been Asuna opting for another bath after the last was interrupted, but we didn't hear another door.
Kirito and I got up, and returned to the living room. The lights were off, but the snowy window had cast moonlight into the room that allowed us to spot a silhouette on the sofa, legs bound by arms.
"Can't sleep?" the boy beside me asked, and we saw a small nod.
"The room and the bed are just too big…"
I smiled as I recalled the beta. "The barracks on the fortress' second floor, are just lined with bunk beds like you'd expect for a military stronghold. It was only good as a spot to log out."
Kirito sat down at the other end of the sofa. "Did you start thinking about next year?"
Asuna remained still, then nodded with her forehead against her knees. "Until now, I've been trying not to think about the distant future. I told myself, that I would only focus on what had to be done each day. But that's just the same as trying to run from the future. Not even just thinking about the number of floors left or how much time it would take… I was just trying to avoid facing the question that I'm sure we're all asking: 'How much longer can I survive in this place?' …But then I was sitting there in my room, looking out the window… and it all just sort of… bubbled up inside of me…"
I sat down on the arm of the sofa. "You'll live. Everyone I've spoken to who was worried about their lives ahead, I always gave them the facts. And they were always the facts."
I knew in my head, the truth behind my claim: not everyone would believe those facts. I knew quite the handful of people who didn't.
"SAUER's right… You'll see next Christmas, whether it's in here, or outside. And if it's in here, you'll experience it again in the real world, eventually."
Asuna lifted her head with an unexpected smile, as she turned to us.
"You two will have the strength to say the same thing to everyone else, one day. Work towards it."
Kirito and I looked at each, blinking for a moment. I then chuckled again.
"Kirito would need more work than me," I quipped as I slipped down onto the end of the sofa, taking his spot and pushing him much closer to Asuna, "I've proven myself to 40 people, already."
Asuna giggled as she shook her head. "You say a lot more than Kirito, but the hope you give is for freedom, not for life."
I scrunched my face in thought, and then smiled as I saw her lean her head on Kirito's shoulder.
"Having agency over your own fate is freedom, is it not?"
The fencer yawned at my answer. "You need to spend less time telling people to take charge, and more time telling them that they can see the day when taking charge pays off."
Kirito glanced at her with a careful tilt of his head. "What should I do?"
"Just… Be there, until the people get where they should be."
As Asuna closed her eyes, Kirito looked at me. I looked at her, and then at him. After just under a minute, we could hear her breathing soften. I smirked at him, and returned to our room by myself.
As I was alone for the time I had slept, I assumed that Kirito had stayed there, beside Asuna.
For the most part, the next day flew past with half of the floor's elven quests. As we went all about the floor from quest to quest, we stopped in at Usco and Rovia along the way. I took these breaks to rendezvous with parties from my guild. The Sandalwood Auxiliary led by Brandi, finished the other portion of the «Shipwright of Yore» quest in the late afternoon. Kyubi's party had finished the quest for the Martial Arts skill on the 24th, and swapped parties with Kabe. I signed on three more guild members; one from the Christmas party yesterday, and two who applied on this day.
The party that joined to spite the Dragon Knights, led by a woman named Chumi, had finished with maxing out the ten Numb Daggers' upgrade attempts. Only four of them had maximum possible enhancements, and of those four – when I had them melted down by the smith at Yofel Castle later that evening – only three of them had the correct parameter distribution to become particularly worthwhile metals. Fortunately, said metal was especially worthwhile: «Staggerite Ingots».
Numb Daggers, by default, had a chance to stun upon a hit. Enhancing its Sharpness, Accuracy, and Weight, not only increased that chance by tiny amounts, but the materials infused into the weapon with enhancement, reinforced the stability of the metal's properties. At least, that was my theory. Hopefully, any weapon crafted with one of these ingots, would have the same ability – even if it was not as potent. The fact that it was called Staggerite, hinted at my theory's plausibility.
With nothing else for them to do, I sent the Ascension, the guild's flagship gondola, to the labyrinth tower further south. The Aincrad Skyward Siege spent most of the day mapping out its floors, along with Kibaou's Aincrad Liberation Squad, and Lind's Dragon Knights Brigade, later in the evening.
The morning of the 26th, I received a message from Kiril. A player had logged in late last night, and requested my attention this morning. I dreaded to imagine who it was, but after breakfast, I asked Kirito and Asuna to continue the other quests, keeping me in their party so that I would still make progress with them. I convinced them that I should only be gone an hour or two, and I would help them through the rest of the day.
After being dropped off at Rovia, I went to see Kiril by the teleport gate plaza. There, she stood up upon seeing me, and a woman beside her rose to her feet as well. Her hair was gray, and her eyes seemed naturally weary, with thin lines in her tanned cheeks. Among other features, I had to guess she was in her late 50s.
"Can I help you, ma'am?" I asked, confused as to how she knew me, "I hear you, uh…"
She nodded with a soft chuckle. "Appeared in the Town of Beginnings, as if I had just signed in. Yes, that is what happened. You see, I don't have much time, but I want to tell you something."
"Huh? S-Sure. It's not about why you logged in?"
She shook her head. "I have words from home. Your home, Mr. Bishop Steel."
I took a deep breath at her answer, and the language in which it was spoken. "English, huh… Alright. What is the message? Or, messages…?"
The elderly player, labelled «AZH», spoke to me, and only me, as only I understood her speech.
Doctor Alamea Harbinger had this to say: "You're in my sight, at the hospital. I've got you, boy."
Abequa said, "Projects are slowing down a bit without you. Escape and catch us up, please."
Amira says, "We tried a few things, it didn't work. You're gonna have to just win."
From Alaqua: "I met some of the testers who didn't get the game. You can imagine how they feel."
Alawa admits to sourcing the hardware for me to deliver the family's messages. She's sorry.
Algoma has quit Pizza Hut to focus on Black Yeti full-time, saying: "If you die, I'll eat a whole lobster."
Anna promises to get her degree, so that she can develop games full-time as well.
Atepa wants you to look after Kumiko and Brandi, until they can challenge the new champion.
The elder twins have retired from wrestling to work for Black Yeti, as have Atepa and Awendela.
Speaking of Awendela, she and Ayasha have their scholarships. They want you to see their games.
Everyone younger than that, didn't have a specific statement. They just want you to escape.
Finally, your boss – Adsila. It made sense to save her message for last:
"Negotiations with RECT are going well. We are hoping to have something ready soon. No, it's not something that can help you; sorry if I got your hopes up. I want you to see it, it'll be so much better than Kayaba's trash. So, win for me. Win for my mom. For my sisters, my daughter, my nieces. Fight onward and kick this castle out of the sky, like I know SAUER would. Make us proud."
Once she had finished speaking, the elderly player returned to Japanese. "They all miss you, so very much. That's mostly why I came here – for you to hear what they wanted to say."
I nodded slowly. "Thank you, for all of that. It's nice just to know they're okay. But what about you?"
AZH smiled, looking down. "I wanted to see it all for myself: proof that your generation, and those ahead, have so much to look forward to. When you get out, don't take this technology for—"
Suddenly, blue light enveloped her avatar, and she vanished in an underwhelming flicker. A small, purple notice appeared where she stood.
«Disconnection: No Input».
Perplexed by what just happened, I wondered if I had really just spoken to someone who logged in just to talk to me. Or, if I was just desperately looking for a sign that everyone was alright outside.
Regardless, I sent Kirito a message, and I got on the Tilnel as he brought it in. Now, I had to focus on helping with the elf quests. The rewards would surely help me grant the Harbinger family's wishes.
A/N: Go figure, I actually described a character who appeared on their own. I need to remember to actually visualize characters for y'all, I've just been kind of throwing names out without any looks to associate with them.
Anyway, yeah. That character was created while I was writing my spinoff. The conversation just then, contains elements which will be seen there. Anyway, see y'all in two weeks.
