Aincrad 1 Read online

  Despite my rush to finish it up, the draft was well over the submission limit of 120 pages, but without the skill or the bravery to cut it down to size, I slumped down to my knees in the corner and mumbled, “Forget it…”

  But being the cheap type, I couldn’t just toss out what I’d written, so in the fall of that year, I set up a website, deciding that I’d just publish it on the Internet. To my very fortunate surprise, I received a great many positive reactions from the start, and I used that as motivation to write a sequel, then a side story, then another sequel, and the next thing I knew, I’d been doing it for six years.

  In 2008, I thought, I’ll give this another try. I had just finished up a different story (well over the page limit again, but this time I was able to cut it to just under 120) that ended up winning the fifteenth Dengeki Novel Prize, as well as a number of other awards, for which I am very grateful. But that wasn’t the end of my luck. I’ll never forget my exultation when my editor read the scrawling output of my SAO series—just a pet project at this point—and said, “Let’s publish this, too.”

  On the other hand, it was also extremely nerve-wracking. For one thing, this work contained so many major problems that it would be impossible to list them all here, most pressing of all being: If we’re going to print something that’s been available on the ’net, is it right to abruptly take the website down?

  As a matter of fact, it was only through a series of lucky coincidences within a window of opportunity the size of the eye of a needle that I got the publisher’s approval: the fact that it was happening just after I’d delivered my latest work, the fact that it was around the time that online games were just being recognized by society at large, and the fact that my editor was Kazuma “My Work Is My Girlfriend” Miki. If he hadn’t taken the time out of his already packed schedule to read in a week every word of SAO I’d written, this would never have seen the light of day. I told myself that I wasn’t a true gamer—er, true writer if I didn’t take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And thus, the paperback edition of Sword Art Online 1: Aincrad came to be.

  This story is my starting point. It’s something I’ve been writing to explore the concept of the online game and the virtual world. If possible, I’d love for you to experience that journey with me, all the way to its end.

  It is here that I must thank my tremendous illustrator, abec, who took the tricky setting of “fantasy in a near-future VR game” and produced vivid depictions of the characters who battle against their fates. I should also thank my editor, Mr. Miki, who carefully read over the amateur original work and helped it be reborn in this new form.

  And thanks are due to the many people who helped support the web version of Sword Art Online over the years. Without your encouragement, not only would this book never have existed, I would not be the Reki Kawahara I am today.

  Lastly, my greatest gratitude goes out to you, for picking up this book!

  Reki Kawahara—January 28th, 2009