Sword Art Online - Volume 2 - Aincrad (Side Stories) Read online

  Scilica stepped back with a lithe movement, avoiding the blow that the monster had swung at her. She then rushed in with a shout. The dagger in her right hand flashed as it rained blows down on the Ape.

  She didn’t even try to dodge the club of the Ape that had switched in after it saw the HP of its companion decrease, but instead blocked it with her left hand. Her HP decreased, although not by as much as a direct hit. But she ignored it and went after the third ape, the one that had killed Fina.

  She used her small stature to her advantage, charged straight at the Ape, and dug her dagger into its chest with all her strength. With a flashy critical hit effect, the enemy’s HP was reduced to nothing. A scream came first, and then the sound of shattering.

  Within the scattering debris, Scilica turned her body and charged at a new target. Her HP bar had already gone into the red danger area, but she didn’t even care anymore. She saw only the enemy she had to kill, as if it was enlarged to fill her vision.

  She forgot even her fear of death and was just about to attempt a doomed charge below the swinging club.

  A pure white light slashed across the two Drunk Apes from behind them as they stood side by side.

  The bodies of the two Apes were each split into two in an instant; then they shattered and disappeared.

  As Scilica stood numbly, she saw a male player just past the haze of scattering fragments. He had black hair and wore a black coat. He wasn’t all that tall, but an overwhelming presence radiated from him. Scilica stepped back as she felt an instinctive fear. Their eyes met.

  But his eyes were silent and as deep as the darkness. The boy sheathed his one-handed sword back into the scabbard on his back with a clank and then opened his mouth.

  “I’m sorry. I couldn’t save your friend”

  Strength left her body as soon as she heard this. She couldn’t stop the tears running down her cheeks. She didn’t even register her dagger slipping out of her hand and falling onto the ground. As soon as she saw the sky-blue feather on the ground, she fell to her knees in front of it.

  As her anger disappeared, an uncontrollable sadness and loss rushed out. They formed in the shape of tears and rolled down her cheeks relentlessly.

  Familiars weren’t programmed to stop an attack as part of its normal behavior. Fina had rushed in front of the attack at its own free will – it could be called the result of its love towards Scilica, whom it had spent a year with.

  As Scilica clutched herself, she muttered while crying.

  “Please… don’t leave me alone… Fina…”

  But the sky-blue feather didn’t give any sort of reply.

  Part 2

  “…I’m sorry.”

  The boy clad in black clothing said again. Scilica shook her head and tried desperately to stop her tears.

  “…No… I was… being stupid… Thank you…for saving me…”

  She managed to force just that out as she stopped herself from crying.

  The boy walked over to her slowly and knelt down in front of Scilica before asking hesitantly.

  “…That feather, does it have an item name by any chance?”

  Surprised by the unexpected question, Scilica raised her head. She wiped her tears and then turned her gaze over to the feather.

  Now that she thought about it, it was strange that only the feather had remained. Be it monster or human, beings of this world usually left nothing behind after they died, not even their equipment. Scilica hesitantly reached over with her hand and clicked on the surface of the feather with her right index finger. The half-transparent window that appeared showed its name and weight.

  «Fina’s Heart»

  Just as Scilica was about to start crying again after seeing this, the boy stopped her.

  “Wa-wait-wait. If a heart item was left behind, then you can revive it.”

  “What!?”

  Scilica raised her head sharply. She stared at the boy’s face with her mouth half open.

  “It’s something that was discovered not too long ago, so there are still lots of people who don’t know. There’s a dungeon in the northern region of the forty-seventh floor called «The Hill of Memories». It’s quite hard despite its name… but they say that the flower that blooms on the top of it is a familiar revival ite-.”

  “Re-really!?”

  Scilica shot up and shouted before the boy had finished talking. It felt as if hope had flooded her chest, which had been filled with sorrow. But—

  “…The forty-seventh floor…”

  She muttered and sagged her shoulders. It was twelve floors above this level, floor thirty-five. It was definitely not a safe area for her.

  Just when she turned her disheartened eyes to the floor.

  “Hmm—”

  The boy in front of her said in a bothered voice.

  “I could go get it for you if you give me the expenses and some pay, but they say that the flower only shows up if the beast tamer who lost their familiar goes…”

  Scilica smiled at the surprisingly kind swordsman and spoke:

  “No… I’m happy with the information you gave me. If I work hard to raise my level, someday I’ll be able to…”

  “Well the reason you can’t do that is, they say that you can only revive the familiar within four days after it was killed. After that, the item’s name will change from «Heart» to «Remains»…”

  “What…!”

  Scilica couldn’t stop herself from shouting.

  Her level was forty-four right now. If SAO was a normal RPG, the floor of the dungeon would be the suited difficulty for a player with the same level. But since it became a crazy death-game, the safe area would be about ten levels below the player’s.

  In other words, to explore the forty-seventh floor, she would need to reach at least level fifty-five. But no matter how she thought about it, it was impossible to gain ten levels in just four days… no, two days if she took away the time she needed to clear the dungeon. She had just managed to get to where she is now by diligently going on adventures.

  Scilica dropped her head as despair took over her once again. She picked Fina’s feather up from the ground and hugged it gently to her chest. Tears appeared as she resented her stupidity and powerlessness.

  She noticed the boy stand up. She thought he was leaving and that she should at least say goodbye, but she didn’t have the energy to open her mouth any more—

  But suddenly, a half-transparent system window appeared in front of her. It was a trade window. When she raised her head, she saw the boy manipulating another window. Items began to appear one by one in the trade section. «Silver Thread Armor», «Ivory Dagger»… They were all equipments that she had never even seen before.

  “Errm…”

  When she opened her mouth hesitantly, the boy explained casually:

  “These should cover for about five, six levels. If I go with you I suppose it’ll be fine.”

  “What…?”

  Scilica stood up with her mouth slightly open. She couldn’t tell what the boy was thinking, so she looked directly into his face. But because of the SAO system, all she could see was his HP bar; she couldn’t even figure out his name or level.

  It was hard to tell how old he was. His equipment was entirely black. The force and calmness that radiated from him made it seem like he was several years older than her, but the eyes that were covered by his long bangs appeared somewhat innocent, and the feminine facial lines gave him a slightly girlish look. Scilica asked carefully:

  “Why… are you being so kind…?”

  To tell the truth, she was more wary than anything else.

  Up till now, a couple of male players who had been much older than her had tried to gain her love; she had even received a proposal once. To Silica, who was only thirteen, these experiences bought her nothing but fear. She had never received even a confession in the real world.

  Inevitably, Scilica had started to avoid male players that seemed to have those sorts of interests. Besid
es, «there’s always a motive behind sweet words» was common sense in Aincrad.

  The boy scratched his head again, as if he was short on answers. He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it once again. After that, he turned his gaze and then muttered in a small voice:

  “…Well, it’s not like this is a manga… I’ll tell you if you promise not to laugh.”

  “I won’t.”

  “It’s because… you look like my sister.”

  At this really manga-like answer, Scilica couldn’t stop herself from laughing. She blocked her mouth with her hand, but she couldn’t stop the laughter that was bubbling up.

  “You, you said you wouldn’t laugh…”

  The boy had a hurt expression on his face and sagged his shoulders as he went into a sulk. That made her laugh even harder.

  —He’s not a bad person…

  As she laughed, Scilica decided to trust the kindness of this boy. She had already resolved herself to die once. If it was for saving Fina, there was no reason for her to hold back.

  Scilica bowed and said:

  “I hope we get along. You saved me, and even offered to do something like this for me…”

  She stared at the trade window and then put in all the Coll she had. There were more than ten pieces of equipment that the boy had offered, and all of them looked like rare items that you couldn’t buy from shops.

  “Well… I suppose this is too little, but…”

  “No, you don’t have to pay. They were spares anyway and this coincides with the reason I came here…”

  While he talked about something that she couldn’t understand, the boy pressed the OK button without receiving any money.

  “Thank you. Really…. Oh, I’m Scilica.”

  As she said her name, she half-expected the boy to be surprised by it, but it seemed like he didn’t know it. She felt put out for a second, but then she remembered that it was this side of her that had made her end up like this in the first place.

  The boy nodded slightly and offered his right hand.

  “I’m Kirito. I hope we get along.”

  They shook hands.

  The player called Kirito took out a map of the Wandering Forest from the pouch that hung from his belt. He looked for an area that was linked to the entrance and then started walking. As she followed, she put Fina’s feather against her lips and muttered in her mind.

  Wait, Fina. I’ll revive you soon…

  The living area of the thirty-fifth floor had a pastoral, farm-like feel with its white buildings and red roofs. The village itself wasn’t all that big, but it was the main adventuring area for the middle level players right now, so there were quite a few people walking around.

  Scilica’s hometown was Friben Village, which was situated on the eighth floor; but since she hadn’t bought a house, staying at any inn in any village wasn’t really all that different. The most important thing was how the food served there tasted. Scilica liked the cheese cake that the NPC cook here made, so she had been staying here since two weeks ago when she had began adventuring into the Forest of Wandering.

  As she lead Kirito, who was looking around as if everything fascinated him, a couple of players whose faces she knew began to strike up a conversation with her. They were trying to get Scilica to join their party after hearing the rumor that she had left her old one.

  “Erm, well… thank you for offer, but…”

  She bowed as she refused the offers in order to not make them feel bad. She then glanced at Kirito, who was standing beside her, and continued:

  “…I’m going to party with this person for a while…”

  What!? Really!? The people who surrounded Scilica said sullenly and stared at Kirito suspiciously.

  Scilica had seen a bit of Kirito’s skill; but when you looked at the black swordsman just standing there, he didn’t seem all that strong.

  He didn’t have any expensive equipment on—he didn’t wear any armor and only had a old and worn-looking long coat on top of his shirt—all he had was a single simple one-handed sword; he didn’t even have a shield.

  “Hey, you—”

  The tall two-handed sword user who had tried the hardest to get Scilica to join walked over to Kirito. He opened his mouth as he looked down upon Kirito:

  “You’re a new face, but you shouldn’t cut in line. We’ve had our eyes on Scilica for quite a while now.”

  “Well I didn’t know; things just ended up like this somehow…”

  Kirito scratched his head with a troubled expression.

  He could at least argue a little, Scilica thought with a little discontent, and then she spoke to the two-handed sword wielder:

  “Erm, it’s something I requested. I’m sorry!”

  Scilica bowed low one last time and then walked away as she pulled at the end of Kirito’s coat.

  “I’ll send you a message next time~.”

  Scilica walked quickly, wanting to get away from the waving crowd, which still wouldn’t completely give up on her, as fast as possible. She cut across the gate plaza and into the main street.

  When they finally couldn’t see the players anymore, Scilica sighed and looked up at Kirito.

  “…I, I’m sorry. For making you go through all this trouble.”

  “It’s fine.”

  Kirito answered with a slight smile as if it didn’t worry him at all.

  “Scilica-san is pretty popular.”

  “Please just call me Scilica… It’s not because I’m popular; they’re just trying to get me in their party as a sort of mascot, really. But… I thought that I was special… and went into the forest by myself… and ended up…”

  Tears began to appear naturally as she thought of Fina.

  “It’s alright.”

  Kirito said in a calm voice.

  “We’ll definitely bring Fina back, so don’t worry about it.”

  Scilica wiped her tears and smiled at Kirito. Strangely enough, it felt like she could trust the words of this person.

  Finally, they could see a two-story building to their right. It was the inn that Scilica used often: «Weathercock Tavern». Now that they had arrived, Scilica realized that she had led Kirito here without saying anything.

  “Ah, where’s your home, Kirito onii-chan?”

  “Oh, it’s on the fiftieth floor…. But it’s too much of a bother going there now, so I suppose I’ll just stay here for the night.”

  “Ah, okay!”

  Scilica was excited for some reason and clapped her hands together.

  “The cheesecake here is really good.”

  She was just about to lead Kirito into the inn by pulling at his coat when four players came out of the shop next to them. They were the party members whom she had hunted with for the past two weeks. The male players that appeared first didn’t see Scilica and simply headed for the plaza, but the female player at the end looked back and Scilica met her gaze reflexively.

  “…!”

  It was the face that she didn’t want to see the most right now. It was the spear wielder that had been the cause of the fight which had made Scilica quit the party. She was going to just walk into the inn with her head bowed low but…

  “Oh, isn’t it Scilica?”

  The spear wielder called out, so Scilica didn’t have a choice but to stop walking.

  “…Yeah.”

  “Ho~, you somehow managed to get out of the forest. That’s a relief.”

  The player named Rosalia, who had her deep red hair in wild curls, said with a lopsided smile.

  “But you’re too late. We’ve already distributed the items.”

  “I said I don’t need them! — I’m busy right now so goodbye!”

  Scilica tried to end the conversation, but it seemed that the other side didn’t have any intention of letting her go just yet.

  “Oh? What happened to that lizard?”

  Scilica bit her lip. You couldn’t put familiars in your inventory or entrust it to another person. In o
ther words, there was only one reason why it wasn’t there. Rosalia most probably knew that too, but she continued on with a slight smile.

  “Oh, by any chance…?”

  “It’s dead…. But!”

  Scilica glared at the spear wielder.

  “I’m going to revive Fina!”

  Rosalia, who had been smiling with great satisfaction, widened her eyes. She even gave a low whistle.

  “Ho, so you’re going to the «Hill of Memories»? But can you get through it at your level?”

  “She can.”

  Kirito declared even before Scilica could answer. He hid Scilica behind his coat as if to protect her.

  “It’s not that hard of a dungeon anyway.”

  Rosalia looked up and down at Kirito with a blunt stare and then scoffed:

  “You’re another one that fell for her? You don’t look all that strong.”

  Scilica started shaking with fury. She looked downwards as she tried to hold her tears back.

  “Let’s go.”

  Kirito placed a hand on her shoulder, and then Scilica began to walk towards the inn.

  “Well, good luck.”

  Rosalia’s laughing voice sounded behind her, but she didn’t look back.

  The first floor of «Weathercock Tavern» was a huge restaurant. Kirito got Scilica to sit down at a table and then walked over to the front counter where a NPC was waiting. After he finished checking in, he clicked the menu on the counter and then quickly returned.

  As soon as Kirito sat down on the other side, Scilica opened her mouth to apologize for making Kirito go through such an uncomfortable situation because of her. But Kirito stopped her by raising his hand and then smiled.

  “Let’s eat first.”

  The waiter brought two steaming mugs over just in time. The cups in front of them were filled with a red liquid; a mysterious aroma rose from them.

  “To the forming of our party.”

  They clinked their mugs together at Kirito’s toast. Scilica then took a sip of the hot liquid.

  “…Tasty…”

  The smell and sour-sweet taste was similar to the wine that her father had let her try a long time ago. But Scilica already had a go at every drink offered in this restaurant over the past two weeks, yet she couldn’t remember trying this one.