Sword Art Online - Volume 8 - Early and Late Read online

  “No, they won’t. Those two would definitely never kill Schmitt?”

  “How can you deduce this?”

  “You still have Yoruko-san’s name registered in your friend list, right, Asuna? You didn’t see a message indicating that she had removed the friend registration at all, did you?”

  “Ahh…speaking of which, that’s true. I believed that it would have been removed automatically after the second murder incident in the inn, but if she’s still alive, we should still be in contact with each other.

  Asuna moved her left hand to summon the window, and after operating quickly, nodded back in affirmation.

  “It is still registered. If I had realized this, we could have realized a trick going on with this case…but in that case, why did Yoruko-san accept the friend request? We could have seen through the entire plan from here.”

  “Most likely…”

  I closed my eyes, and this time, what was ingrained in my mind was a female profile with deep purple wavy hair.

  “…It’s atonement for lying to us and proof that she trusted us. Even if we noticed the record on the friend list and found out that she’s still alive, we could deduce their true intent and not prevent them from baiting Schmitt. Asuna, try tracking Yoruko-san’s position.”

  I open my eyes as I said that. Asuna nodded and again hit the window.

  “…Right now, she’s in the field on the 19th floor, a hill slightly away from the main streets…what’s over there is…”

  “The grave of the Golden Apple leader, Griselda. Caynz and Schmitt should be there too. If Schmitt dies there, we can tell that they killed him, so they probably won’t do so.”

  “The…then what about the other way around? Will Schmitt kill both of them to shut them up after finding out his role in the ring incident…?”

  Asuna asked in a worried manner. I pondered for a while and still shook my head.

  “No…we’ll find that out too. Besides, that person can’t accept being a criminal, no, a killer, and get released by the clearing group, so I guess we don’t have to worry about them killing each other…just leave it to them. Our role in this incident is over. We were had by Yoruko-san this time, but…I don’t hate them for this.”

  On hearing this, Asuna pondered for a while, and then gave me an affirmative smile.

  However, Asuna and I didn’t even see half the truth in this incident.

  This incident still wasn’t over yet.

  Part 11

  Let’s continue on with what I had heard later on.

  Schmitt was so shocked that he couldn’t breathe, looking back and forth at the two players’ faces under their death god’s robes.

  The true identities of what he had thought to be Griselda and Grimlock were unexpectedly Yoruko and Caynz. However, these two should be dead. He had only heard that Caynz was dead, but as for Yoruko —— just several hours ago, he witnessed her death personally —— she was stabbed by the black dagger from outside the window, fell onto the streets and her avatar exploded into polygons.

  They’re ghosts? Schmitt nearly passed out, but the words Yoruko said before she showed her face barely managed to keep Schmitt conscious.

  “Re…recording…?”

  The hoarse voice was barely squeezed out from his throat as Yoruko pulled her hand out from her robe to show Schmitt, revealing an eight-sided pillar shaped crystal that gave off a light green glow; a recording crystal.

  Ghosts probably didn’t use items to record voices.

  In that case, Yoruko and Caynz’s deaths were all a pretense. He couldn’t imagine how they did it, but both of them acted out their own ‘deaths’ to create an avenger that didn’t exist in the first place, and forced the 3rd person into a dead end for the sake of vengeance. They recorded the confession of the 3rd person admitting his guilt and asking for forgiveness, all —— as part of a plan to unravel what happened in a murder incident in the past.

  “…So…that’s how it is…”

  Schmitt finally realized the truth, muttered weakly in a voice that was barely audible, and immediately collapsed.

  He wasn’t enraged that he was fooled so thoroughly, nor that the evidence was taken from him, but amazed by Yoruko and Caynz’s persistence —— their admiration of Griselda.

  “You two…really respect leader…”

  Caynz quietly answered in his weak voice.

  “Aren’t you the same?”

  “Eh…?”

  “Aren’t you the same, like us? You never hated the leader at all, did you? No matter how much you desired the ring, you wouldn’t develop any malice towards her, am I right?”

  “Of…of course I didn’t. Really, trust me.”

  Schmitt’s face twisted as he continued nodding.

  In terms of battle ability, even if both of them teamed up on him, they were probably not stronger than him. However, Schmitt didn’t think of immediately drawing his weapon to shut them both up. First, if he fell as a red player, he wouldn’t be able to continue staying in the guild and the clearing group. And more importantly, if he killed Yoruko and Caynz here, Schmitt was very certain that he could never revert to his normal self.

  That’s why Schmitt continued to repeat the mistake he made in the past even when the recording crystal was active.

  “What I did…was that I sneaked into the leader’s room and set the portal. And because of this…I used the money I earned from this to buy some high-level weapons and armor, so I cleared the requirements to enter DDA…”

  “It is true that you didn’t know who wrote the memo, right?’

  Yoruko asked sternly, and Schmitt nodded hard again.

  “I, I still don’t know who it was. Amongst the 8 of us, if you minus me off, you two, leader and Grimlock, there should be 3 people left…but I never contacted them after that…don’t you have any clue?”

  In face of Schmitt’s question, Yoruko could only shake her head gently.

  “The three of them joined a middle-ranked guild that was similar to the «Golden Apple» after it was disbanded and lived ordinary lives. None of them bought any rare equipment or player homes. You were the only one who stepped up so quickly, Schmitt.”

  “……I see…”

  Schmitt said, and lowered his head.

  When Griselda died, the leather bag that was sent to his room had an unbelievably large sum of money. At that point, he could buy all of the high ability equipment that he could only water his mouth at.

  If the person didn’t spend that kind of money and put it inside the storage, that person had an iron heart. No, before this——

  Schmitt looked up and immediately forgot the circumstances he was in and said the doubt that grew within him.

  “…Bu, but, won’t this be too weird…if the person didn’t need that money, then why did he kill the leader and steal the ring…?”

  Yoruko and Caynz heard this unexpected question, and their upper body tilted back slightly.

  In Aincrad, there was no benefit in putting money earned inside their storage. The value of 1 coll was based on the drop rate maintained by the Cardinal System, kept constant at all times, which meant that inflation or depreciation would never happen. Even if players did buy high priced swords and armor, as long as they maintained the equipment properly, they could earn back about the same amount of money on a day they didn’t need it. Therefore it was pointless not to use the money. In other words——

  “The one…who sent the memo was…”

  Schmitt continued to think hard and was about to say a deduction that vaguely appeared in his mind.

  However, as he was too focused, it was too late when he noticed ‘that’.

  “SCH…!!”

  Just when Yoruko in front of him shouted, a small dagger was stabbed into his neck from behind him, right at the gap between the breastplate and the throat plate. It was the skill combo of «Armor Pierce» that a small stab weapon used, and the «Sneaking» skill that was used on non-metallic armor——

 
After a moment of shock, Schmitt quickly turned back with the response ability he had trained from the frontlines. Even if his throat was stabbed open, he wouldn’t die immediately. It was a fatal point, and the damage would be great, but it would still be far less compared to Schmitt’s vast HP amount.

  However,

  Just when he was about to turn around, Schmitt’s feet lost their senses, and he collapsed onto the ground with a clank. His HP bar was surrounded by a green flash. It indicated the state of paralysis. As a tank, his anti-poison skill should have increased by quite a bit, but this was a rather high level poison that could negate resistance. Who was——

  “One, down.”

  The boyish innocent voice came from above Schmitt, and he hurriedly looked up.

  First, he saw a black leather boot with what looked like a sharp thumbtack. The person also had black tight-fitting leather pants, and the leather armor on him was black too. His right hand was holding onto a long and thin knife that was dipped in green, while his left hand was in his pocket.

  The head had a mask that looked like a ‘sack’, leaving only circular holes at the eyes. Realizing that there was a sticky stare at him, Schmitt’s sights showed the cursor of the player. It wasn’t a normal green color, but a bright orange color.

  “Ah…!”

  Schmitt heard a soft cry and turned around to see a small-sized player holding a really thin sword and threatening Yoruko and Caynz. He was dressed completely in black too, but the clothing wasn’t made of leather. It was a piece of ragged clothing that reached from top to bottom. His face had a mask that looked like a skull, and the dark eyeholes look like they were giving off glowing red eyes. The right hand was holding what was most likely the same kind of Estoc that Yoruko was holding, but the bronze that was giving off a bloody color explained its overwhelming nature. The cursor was orange as well.

  The guy with the skull mask took the black Estoc easily from the dazed Yoruko’s right hand. He glanced at the blade and let out a voice that seemed to have static in it.

  “The design is, not too bad. Let’s, add, it, to my, collection.”

  Schmitt knew of these two people. He had never met them directly before, but amongst the bulletin circulated through the guild headquarters, the top most player had a sketch of them amongst the list of the players that they were supposed to be wary of.

  In a certain sense, they were the biggest enemy of the clearing group, bigger than the boss monsters, the red players. They were the male players in the largest savage guild who were the executives. The poisoned dagger user who paralyzed Schmitt was «Johnny Black», and the Estoc user who held down Yoruko and Caynz was «Red-Eyed XaXa».

  In that case, don’t tell me —— ‘that guy’ took part too?

  You’re lying! Don’t! This isn’t the time for jokes!

  As if betraying the cries inside Schmitt’s heart, JARI JARI, the sound of footsteps could be heard.

  Schmitt tentatively looked behind and stared over with his widened eyes. He could feel the figure of the biggest terror in Aincrad.

  The person was wearing a dull black poncho that covered him down to his knees and a hood that was attached, covering the eyes.

  The person was holding a rectangular-shaped giant dagger that looked like a Chinese chopping knife and a blood-like reddish-black blade.

  “……«PoH»…”

  Schmitt muttered the name out from his lips and started trembling hard as if he saw terror and despair.

  The killing guild «Laughing Coffin».

  The guild was established half a year after the death game called SAO was created. Before this, they were orange players who just surrounded solo players or a few players with a large number of them to steal coll or items, and their extremist thoughts caused them to become such a radical group.

  That thought was —— «If it’s a death game, killing people is a must»..

  In modern Japan, ‘legal killing’ wasn’t allowed, but in such an extreme situation, it because possible. All the players’ physical bodies were all in FullDive state, which meant that they were unconscious and couldn’t even move a finger. In terms of the legal implications in Japan, the designer of Nerve Gear, Akihiko Kayaba, would be the culprit as the player will be ‘killed’ by this death mechanism instead of decreasing the HP bar when the HP dropped to zero.

  ——If that’s the case, just kill and enjoy the game. This is a right given to all players.

  ——The one who gave such a poisonous reasoning to lure and brainwash several orange players and caused them to go on a mad PK craze was the black-poncho clothed guy with the dagger, PoH.

  Unlike the amusing sounding name, this tall guy giving off an icy cold stare walked towards Schmitt and simply commanded.

  “Turn him over.”

  Johnny Black immediately reached the front tip of the foot into Schmitt’s stomach and kicked him to flip him up. The black chopper-wielding guy saw Schmitt’s face as he laid weakly there, and said again,

  “Wow…it’s true. This guy is one huge prey. Isn’t this a leader-sama of the DDA?”

  Even though it was a very nice sounding voice, for some reason, there was a deep weird feeling coming with it. He couldn’t see the face covered by the hood, but the ample wavy black hair was dangling on the side, swaying with the night wind.

  Having realized his own circumstance of despair, Schmitt continued to still think of why this was happening.

  Why would the three of them appear in such a place? The top 3 of the «Laughing Coffin» were a symbol of terror, the highest class fugitive. They couldn’t possibly come over here for sightseeing.

  In other words, the three of them knew that Schmitt was here before attacking.

  But this wouldn’t be enough to explain it. He never told the people from DDA where he was going, and Yoruko and Caynz couldn’t possibly leak any information. The two of them were now being threatened by the Estoc of «Red-Eyed XaXa» and looking completely pale. Even if Schmitt, who was moving on his own at the 19th floor, was discovered by a Laughing Coffin member that contacted PoH, it was way too fast for them to appear.

  Was there something else that caused the three of them to appear on this floor coincidentally? Was this a huge misfortune that could only happen with a one in ten thousand chance? Or, this coincidence was the revenge of the deceased Griselda…?”

  PoH looked down at Schmitt, who was pondering with interrupted thoughts and lying down like a tree branch, and tilted his head slightly.

  “Then…it’s showtime. But even if I want to do this…how should we play?”

  “Then, use that, head.”

  Johnny Black said with an excited tone.

  “The «Kill each other and let the survivor live» game, but we might have to balance the sides with the three of them.”

  “Even though you say so, don’t you kill off the surviving player?”

  “Ah, auhh! We can’t play this game if you say it out loud, head!”

  On hearing this chilling conversation that lacked any tension, XaXa merely cackled while raising the Estoc.

  Right now, Schmitt was overwhelmed by the realistic terror and despair, and couldn’t help but close his eyes.

  The metallic armor that covered his entire body was just a heavy stone when he couldn’t move. They quickly stopped by to joke as if it was before a meal, baring their bloodhound-like teeth. PoH’s large dagger «Mate Chopper» was a monster drop that not even the highest leveled craftsmen’s best created weapons could match, and it was a «Demonic Sword». It should be able to easily pierce through the full plate armor rating on Schmitt.

  ——Griselda, Grimlock.

  If this is your revenge on me, it can’t be helped if I die here.

  But, why must you implicate Yoruko and Caynz? Both of them who they spent so much effort trying to nab the culprit who killed you two? Why?

  Just when Schmitt’s mind was occupied with thoughts of despair.

  On the ground clinging behind, there was a sligh
t vibration.

  DODODO! DODODO! There was a rhythmic beat rumbling getting louder and clearer gradually. Soon, the ears were able to hear that deep rumbling.

  PoH used a sharp breathing to warn his two subordinates. Johnny readied his poisoned dagger and retreated while XaXa put the Estoc closer to Yoruko and Caynz’s necks.

  Schmitt continued to rotate the neck he couldn’t move desperately, and saw a white fluorescent line coming in a straight line from the main streets.

  Several seconds later, he could tell that the trembling light on the path was cold flame surrounding a pitch black horse that seemed to melt in the darkness. The horse had a pitch black rider riding it too, like a certain undead rider from hell riding down the blazing white flames in a lightning quick speed. The sound of the gallops became a rumble as it shook the ground, overlapping with the neighs of the horse.

  The horse soon reached the bottom of the hill, leapt several times before reaching the top. It used its hind legs to help it stand, and the nostrils let out a burning white presence. Johnny looked like he was overwhelmed by the presence as he retreated. Then, the rider on the horse forcefully pulled the leash —— and immediately dropped down from the horse’s back.

  DOSK! The person fell onto the ground on the butt and grumbled ‘it hurts!’ in a very familiar voice.

  The intruder who rubbed his waist as he stood up held onto the leash of the large black horse, stared at Schmitt, then at Yoruko and Caynz before letting out a relaxed tone.

  “Barely safe. The taxi fare will have to be provided by DDA.”

  In Aincrad, there wasn’t any item that allowed for mounting. However, at a few stables run by NPCs on the streets or villages, one could go over there to rent a horse or an ox to move a large number of items the storage couldn’t handle. But if someone wanted to ride, a certain level of skill would be needed and the expenses were really expensive, so almost no one used it. In this death game, they would be very few people who would have the luxury of spare time to learn horse riding——

  Schmitt exhaled the air that was vented inside his chest and looked at the intruder, the face of the solo player in the clearing group, the «Black Swordsman» Kirito.