The original bits take up half of Part 12 and all of Part 13... however, while the other half of Part 12 does come from Material Edition 27, some bits of it were actually changed. Although some changes were either minor or couldn't even be accounted for in the translation because he only switched one grammatical synonym to another without changing the meaning behind the sentence, some were actually quite significant: there were some places where he just added a few extra words of phrases, but there were also paragraphs where Kawahara added entire sentences to Kirito's monologue to explain Mahokl's motives more... and in one instance, he just wanted to throw in an Agil reference for good measure. As such, I decided to include the entire translation of Part 12 in this release, not just the original bits. Part 12 begins right after the bedtime scene in ME27.
Since I'm a nice guy, I did y'all three favours. 1) All changes to the original were marked in crimson text to make it obvious what bits were changed. 2) I compiled all the changes into a Twitter thread, including the changes that I had no real way to account for. 3) I made a hyperlink to the part where ME27 content ends, in case you want to skip to the good stuff. You can thank me later.
The epilogue didn't add all that much new plot, but I guess it did tie up some loose ends, such as what Mahokl needed those rare logs for, or why she ran away from her mates, or why does SAO even have ballistas in the first place, but in typical Kawahara fashion, it skips the actual fights... REEEEEEEEEEEE. Heck, I even thought Kawahara forgot to elaborate on the Meditation teaser thing entirely... only to discover that he just off-handedly threw a bombshell about it in the afterword, of all places... Oh, and there's some extra KiriAsu lovey-dovey stuff thrown in too, if you care about that stuff.Compilation of Sugary Days epilogue changes to ME27 content.
— Gsimenas (@gsimenas) November 12, 2020
1. Rephrasing pic.twitter.com/JHEOPWGvY2
I hope y'all enjoyed our translations.
Our release for next week hasn't yet been decided, since our manga teams are still in the midst of their work, but we are hoping to make a Comic Anthology release next... seeing as Team Lycoris won't make it in time.
Any feedback is appreciated.
-Gsimenas
Credits
Raws: CelestTranslation: Gsimenas
Editing: Cirtoyt
Proofreading: JengKay
Translation (choice/nuance) comments:
- "The Indolent Treent" was spelled out as such in English in the original text. We're not sure if "treent" is a pun or a typo, but since it wasn't changed in the compilation version, we decided to use "Treent" to refer specifically to the boss, and "treant" to refer to the monster type.
- -jou (嬢) after a name is the equivalent of adding "Lady/Miss" to a name. It specifically refers to unmaried women from a good family. I chose to leave this unlocalised, as it could be confused with other honorifics.
- Mahokl has a speech quirk. She uses polite speech (i.e., uses "desu" and "-masu" form); however, all her desu/masu and their conjugations are written in katakana, rather than hiragana as is usual. Seeing as Tap didn't seem to have any clear way for accounting for this quirk, I decided to just use my usual rule for Japanese words written in katakana (i.e., the final word is formatted in Courier font). Note that the speech quirk only comes up in complete sentences.
- The "you wot" instance was "なぬ", rather than "なに". It sounded comical, so I took this into account in the translation.
- Kii-bou (キー坊) is Argo's nickname for Kirito. -bou is the equivalent of -chan for boys... but it's only used for very little boys, since older boys don't like being associated with cuteness when they've got to be all masculine like real men. Yen Press translates the nickname as "Kiboy" or something, but I decided to just leave it as is.
- Crimson text indicates parts of the text that were modified from the story's original release in Material Edition 27.
- Itallics mark text that was written in katakana English (I only highlighted the cases where the author uses both English and actual Japanese equivalents for the same thing, or when I needed to emphasise that an English word is used there).
- Ｆｕｌｌ－ｗｉｄｔｈ text indicates non-Japanese text that was written in the Latin/English alphabet, rather than katakana. Basically, what you see is exactly how it's written in the raw.
- Courier font indicates that the original word was written in kana for emphasis (when such a word usually isn't written in kana)
- Comic sans indicates emphasis added by myself when I needed to stress something to get the meaning across properly.
- In some instances, the original text used furigana. In cases where the furigana wasn't exact match for the underlying text (usually when the author uses furigana to translate or describe foreign words in Japanese), I maintained the furigana format. Furigana text should be read as follows: Japanese translation/description of what the term/name means (e.g. cat fairy race - "Cait Sith" is what was actually said in text, while "cat fairy race" is just a brief description of what Cait Sith are to help differentiate between the different fairies.
- Single quotation marks (') are quotes that weren't in the original text but were added for the convenience of English speakers to mark implied quotations. I used it mostly to separate Kirito's internal monologue from his narration, as well as mark sound effects and so on. Actual dialogue lines or quotations (with 「」 punctuation marks) within a narration line are indicated with the usual double (") quotation marks.
N/A |
Feel free to leave your impressions here.
— Gsimenas (@gsimenas) November 12, 2020
12
28 October, nine in the morning.After finishing an orthodox-but-satisfying menu of a salad-with-cheese, a thin slice of toast, bacon and eggs, and some coffee, Asuna and I left our log house.
Using the Teleport Gate in Coral Village that we reached after leisurely walking along a lake shore road, we teleported to Zumfut, the main town of Floor 3. We entered the south-eastern giant baobab building and walked up the stairs to the third floor. After walking along the circular road for a while, we came to a stop before a small door from my memories. However——
"…………Wha……"
Cried out Asuna; beside her, I myself couldn't stop blinking.
The 【Ｍａｈｏｋｌ’ｓ ａｔｅｌｉｅｒ】 sign that should have been hanging beside the door was nowhere to be found. Flustered, I gripped the door knob, but it vehemently refused to turn. Having peeked inside the atelier through the round window, Asuna instantly shook her head.
"It's all gone. All those materials and tools… every single one is gone……"
"For real……?"
Suddenly coming up with an idea, I tapped on the door's surface with my index finger. The window that appeared following my action displayed the cost for purchasing the room. Meaning that it was no longer Mahokl's atelier even through the eyes of the game's system.
"For real?"
After muttering the same thing once more, I spent just three seconds exchanging a glance with Asuna.
It should have been around six in the evening yesterday when we delivered a bunch of materials that seemed to be the ingredients for a ballista to Mahokl's atelier and had a rocking chair crafted for us as a reward. It's only been slightly over fifteen hours since then, so what is the meaning of this? Although having doubts about it, I began by mentioning the worst possibility out there.
"Getting attacked by someone…… such as a remnant of LaughCof is kinda out of the question…… right?"
"I don't think that's what happened here. There's no way anyone could have cleaned out the shop this meticulously unless they owned the place.
"……You have a point. In which case, that means Mahokl hid herself away of her own volition sometime between last night and this morning, huh……"
As I continued staring at the door dumbfoundedly, Asuna said the following in a lowered voice.
"……There was something that had been bugging me a bit."
"What would that be……?"
"Mahokl-san came to Floor 3 to hide herself from the members of the Kaishindou, remember. If so, don't you think that going out of her way to set up an atelier and even hang a sign outside defeats the purpose of coming here? Although there aren't that many players coming to Floor 3 this late into the game, that number hasn't gone down to zero entirely, and this is the main town. It's quite possible that info on this store could have been passed down to Taikoku-san and the others by people who just happened to come across it."
"I see…… you've got a point. In actual fact, Argo was very much aware of this store, after all……"
The instant the face of the info broker with three whiskers painted on her cheeks flashed through my mind, I gasped when I hit upon a certain possibility.
"Ah……hold on now, could it be……"
"What's the matter?"
"It's nothing more than a guess of mine, but maybe, just maybe Mahokl herself was the one who told Argo about the location of her shop……"
"Huh……?"
As Asuna took on a doubtful expression, I myself caught the 'keep it quiet' bug as I explained my idea.
"I believe even Taikoku and the others turned to Argo for help before going out of their way to come to me. The fastest way to find someone is to ask an info broker, after all…… yet, Argo didn't sell info on this shop to Taikoku. Couldn't it have been because she had been commissioned to do as such, perhaps?"
"So then why did Argo-san tell us the location of the store?"
"What if Mahokl had set it up so that Argo would only sell info on her store to people who met certain conditions? For example, players…… who haven't joined any guild, yet have quite a bit of capability in combat, or something like that?"
That instant, Asuna's eyes opened wide. However, her shock vanished right away, replaced by the sharp expression that reminded me of the 《Demon of Clearing》 from the old days.
"……If that's the case, Mahokl-san's been planning on constructing a ballista from the very start, huh. What's more, seeing as she is constructing one, her goal isn't to make a fancy decoration out of it, but to actually put it to use…… Perhaps Mahokl-san didn't simply hide away, but instead went out to test the ballista in practice……"
"Huh…… w-where would that be……?"
"I haven't figured out the answer to that question yet."
Seeing as she gave me an appalled look as she made that statement, I had to nod that I was getting ahead of myself.
"Hmmh, Aincrad is pretty expansive, after all…… ——Though, seeing as a ballista has to be anchored in place to work, there shouldn't be all that many places where it could be of any use. It needs a place that would allow you to attack monsters unilaterally, without any risk of them closing in…… like, the top of a cliff or cloister, or a place overlooking a deep gorge……"
"Oh, and add a monster that doesn't move from its position or something of the sort."
"Whaaa? Now that's just asking for too much; where on earth would you find something that ideal-……"
Just as I went halfway through my sentence, I muttered out a silent "oh". A memory from nearly two years prior formed a small bubble as it floated up from my subconscious, until it surfaced into my mind with a burst.
"……There was one."
"There actually was a place like that."
As I exchanged a glance with Asuna, who had seemingly come to the same idea a moment faster than me, both of us nodded in sync.
Right afterwards, both of us spun around and began dashing towards the stairs.
There was in fact a monster that was literally rooted in place and thus couldn't move from its position. What's more, it was right here on Floor 3. There's no way that was a coincidence…… Mahokl had been planning on using her ballista on this very creature from the very beginning.
Having rushed out of the main town, we ignored the main road and plunged deep into the forest. Understandably, we aggroed insect-, beast-, and plant-type monsters one after another along the way, but we simply ignored them as we continued dashing. Although we had no choice but to fight the ones that we couldn't just avoid, Asuna and I were both over level 90, while Floor 3 was meant for players at around level 10. A single swing of my beloved Elucidator+45 in my right hand was far more than enough to make short work of them.
Having used the shortest route to cut across the 《Forest of Wavering Mists》 where maps don't function properly, we arrived at the mountain belt that divided the immense floor into southern and northern segments a mere fifteen minutes after we had departed from Zumfut. Back when we were clearing the floor, this trip would have taken an entire day, so it felt as if I was living in an entirely different age at this point, but right now wasn't the time to immerse myself in nostalgia.
A steep gorge opened up on the western side of the mountain belt; this was the sole passage leading to the northern segment of the floor. There was a small village right next to a lake, where you could gobble down some delicious fish dishes, but we unfortunately didn't have the time for pit stops right now.
Once we came to a halt for a moment at the entrance to the gorge, Asuna exhaled a puff of breath before saying the following.
"Though I did predict as much, there really are no people around here, huh……"
"Well, the number of players who decide to venture out into the Outer Fields have gone down lately, not to mention that thanks to the fact that they can get their hands on some fairly strong equipment from the very start if they do decide to venture out, people apparently choose to start out from around Floor 7. That's probably exactly why Mahokl chose this floor specifically though……"
"……Let's make haste."
Nodding at Asuna's words, I stepped into the dim gorge.
The bat-type monsters that frequented this area weren't a match for us, we stayed on guard against ＰＫｅｒs just in case as we spent the next few minutes trotting along the gorge. The other side started getting brighter…… and just when I had that thought, an unfamiliar sound reached my ears with an echo. 'Bun', came a whiz through the air, 'zukaan', came a clear crash. Speeding up, we went another twenty or so metres through the twists and turns of the gorge, when——
A conical pit that almost looked like an artificial stadium appeared ahead of us.
It was probably about a hundred metres wide at its bottom. The sunlight coming in from the skies reached all the way to the ground. Unlike the barren bottom of the gorge, this spot alone was thriving in greenery, with small springs all over the place, making for what seemed like a tranquil scenery at a glance; however, a gigantic tree towering at the centre of the pit made picnics impossible here.
A squatty and thick trunk with long and narrow branches. A creepy bluish-gray bark with barely any leaves around. To make matters worse, the dead centre of the trunk had a face consisting of three cavities. Needless to say, it was no ordinary tree, but rather a monster—— the first Field Boss of Floor 3, 《Ｔｈｅ Ｉｎｄｏｌｅｎｔ Ｔｒｅｅｎｔ》.
Although I had never heard of the English word 'indolent' before, according to our resident erudite Asuna-jou, it apparently meant "lazy" or "slothful". That naming probably came from the fact that the boss never budged the slightest bit from its position at the dead centre of the pit. You might think that's basically a given, seeing as it's a tree, but treant-type monsters in SAO pulled out their roots from the ground when they entered combat and did in fact move around quite nimbly. If you were looking for a specimen that didn't move at all, you probably wouldn't find anything other than this Indolent Treent here that fits the bill.
And Mahokl was probably aware of that fact as well.
At the entrance to the pit, I spotted a familiar short figure facing away from me, beside whom some sort of complicated wooden device was set up on the ground. Upon hiding in the shadow of a nearby rock and sneaking a look at the situation, I noticed that Mahokl was picking up horribly oversized arrows…… actually, those were probably short spears that she was picking up from the ground and then loading onto the centre of the device. As she pulled the ratchet-like lever peeking out from its rear back and forth, the bowstring that was fixed in place onto the bulky crossarm was wound up tight. Once she adjusted her sights and pulled the string dangling under the lever, another one of those 'Bun!' whizes that I had heard along the way rang out as the short spear was fired out, piercing the trunk of the treant in the pit.
"Mororoooooo!!"
With that howl of fury, the Indolent Treent swung its long arms around, after which multiple purple spheres were shot out of its mouth in succession. The spheres caused mini explosions whenever they came down on the ground, though they never managed to reach Mahokl's position. That really was a perfect out-of-range attack——however, is this the epitome of what Mahokl strived to achieve? Is this really the goal for which she went out of her way to hide away from her companions, with whom she had devoted so much time researching, without saying a thing to them and even risked sowing doubt and enmity……?
After making eye contact with Asuna, I stepped out of the shade and walked up to Mahokl, specifically making my footsteps audible loud and clear.
Quickly turning around with her next arrow still in hand, the woodcrafter blinked repeatedly on the other side of her swirly glasses upon witnessing our faces, before giving a small smile.
"……So you really did find me, I see."
"We did have our fair share of trouble against that 《Indolent Treent》 there in the old days, after all."
When I responded as such, Mahokl began blinking once more.
"I see…… Kirito-kun and Asuna-chan, you are part of the Clearers then, I see. Now it makes sense how you were able to collect the materials for this guy so astoundingly easily."
As the woodcrafter made this comment while stroking the mensa of the wooden device——of the ballista with her left hand, I spent the next few minutes at a loss on what words I should speak out next. There was no crime with what she was doing here per se and even though she was facing off against a Field Boss, a Floor 3 class one posed no danger to Mahokl, the head honcho of the Critlers. If I had to dig deep for issues here, it would be the fact that she would draw the attention of the big guilds among the Clearers, or 《The Army》, or even ＰＫｅｒs if the existence of her ballista were to reach the public's ears, though that's exactly why she chose a spot that nobody was likely to ever visit this late into the game.
Making up for the fact that I was at a loss for words, Asuna enquired in a composed voice.
"Mahokl-san……your goal isn't to defeat that boss, is it? Of course, neither is it to do some test firings with that ballista……you have some other goal that we can't even conceive of, don't you……?"
"Oh, what makes you think so, then?"
Mahokl responded with a question of her own while loading the spear in her right hand onto the mensa, prompting Asuna to explain her idea without any hesitation.
"The previous night, a companion of yours named Taikoku-san paid us a visit at our home. It seems he had applied 《Commodity Tracking》 to the table you were willing to sell to us."
"Oh my, so one of my own caused trouble for you, I see. He must have come on strong, right?"
"P-perhaps he was, somewhat…… When we heard all about you from Taikoku-san back then, I had a thought. Perhaps both the Woodcrafting skill that you completed, and this ballista were just a means to an end to you, Mahokl-san."
"A means, you say? What would the end be then?
"To reach the peak of True Criticals."
Despite hearing what Asuna pointed out, Mahokl did not give any answer right away. She wound up the bowstring with the ratchet handle, took aim, and pulled the string. The fired spear took on a slightly curved trajectory as it landed a hit on the Indolent Treent's roots, creating a remarkably intense flash and noise.
"That just now was my nine thousand four hundred and fifty first True Critical so far."
It took me about two seconds to comprehend the meaning behind the words that Mahokl muttered out. After exchanging a glance with Asuna, I asked again in a hoarse voice.
"Nine thousand……y-you're keeping count? Of the number of Criticals you've had so far…… all of them?"
"That's right, I need it for data analysis, after all."
I found myself staring dumbfoundedly at Mahokl's profile as she loaded a new spear after giving such an answer as if it were no big deal.
Keeping track of the number on its own wasn't normal, but the big issue here was the number itself. Even if I were to spend an entire day farming at a single point, I'd probably still have to doubt my chances of getting a mere ten True Criticals pop for me, if we were to ignore Weak Point Criticals. Using basic maths, that would add up to three hundred per month, three thousand and six hundred per year…… of course, it's not like I spend every single day in combat, so my count for True Criticals even now, after two years in the game, is probably around five or six thousand, perhaps. Meanwhile, Mahokl has actually racked up nearly double that.
Even as such thoughts occupied my attention, the woodcrafter fired a new spear from her ballista, which sparked another flamboyant effect.
"Nine thousand four hundred and fifty two……"
As Mahokl muttered this, I couldn't stop myself from hitting her with a question.
"Is this…… is this what you wanted to do? Did you create the ballista solely for bumping your True Critical count?"
"Heavens no, there is no way I would do something like that.
"…………Wha?"
As I once again lost my capability to form words at how outright she rejected that notion, Mahokl hit me back with an unexpected question.
"Kirito-kun and Asuna-chan, are you aware of the new Unique Skill that's become the talk of the town lately?"
"Wha……w-well, yeah……"
After responding affirmatively to her question in an inarticulate manner, I finally realised something. Mahokl isn't aware of the fact that I myself am the owner of that very 《New Unique Skill》. Come to think of it, the newspaper published by the info broker never did go so far as to mention my player name, while even the article that details my Duel against Heathcliff only contains a photo of me down on my hands and knees, though solely of my back, thus likely only people whom I've known for a long time would be able to tell that that was me. Of course, you should be able to easily pin down my name if you were to ask Argo for it, though Mahokl apparently hadn't done so.
"……All this time, I had been under the impression that the Knight of the Blood leader's 《Holy Sword》 was ＳＡＯ's one and only Unique Skill in existence. Yet, that wasn't the case…… which means that there are still some Unique Skills hidden in this world that can be unlocked through meeting some sort of conditions."
"……Could it be that one of these conditions is……?"
As Asuna asked her in a whisper, Mahokl nodded in response.
"I cannot give you an elaborate rationale for this, but I am convinced that a new Unique Skill can be unlocked by achieving a ten thousand True Criticals against monsters milestone. Though, the problem is…… that the more you outrank the monster, the harder it becomes to get True Criticals against them."
"Wait, really……?"
"Yes, really. Though, boss monsters are an exception to this rule. For the Kaishindou's training courses, we honed our True Critical techniques against Field Bosses on floors that have long-since been beaten. Nevertheless, getting twenty of them in a single day was already enough to be considered a great success…… yet, suppose you had a 《weapon that can launch out-of-range attacks》 against 《a boss that does not move》……"
"You could focus all of your attention on boosting your Critical count and never get tired because of it……"
"Indeed."
As Mahokl nodded at that, I started staring intently at her eyes, half-hidden behind her swirly glasses.
I never realised this while we were having a conversation with her in her atelier in Zumfut, but those eyes seemed to be swirling with an even greater madness and obsession than even Taikoku, the guy whom I Dueled the previous night. Although I was afraid of asking her directly about this, the reason why she had attempted to keep the formula for producing a ballista a secret even from her companions, like Taikoku, was probably because only a single person could earn the right to acquire a Unique Skill for themselves……I assume.
'Okay, now those are definitely the eyes of the head honcho of the extremely egoistic group known as the Critlers', coming to grips with that idea, I turned my gaze towards the Indolent Treent as it continued swinging its arms around inside the pit.
The treant's HP bar was, surprisingly, not even halfway down. Mahokl was undoubtedly using the lowest rank short spears out there as her arrows to hold back on the damage she was dealing. Even when you beat them, Field Bosses can continue to repop indefinitely, while Mahokl can acquire as much timber for her spears as she could possibly ever need just outside the gorge, thus if she continued camping down here to fire her ballista at this rate, it is probably possible for her to rack up those remaining five hundred and fifty True Criticals without even needing ten days for the job. And I had no reason, nor right to insist on stopping her.
"I see…… that answered a whole lot of questions. Sorry for getting in your way."
After giving a slight bow, I opened my storage and materialised a huge load of drinks and food I had been keeping in stock.
"Here, a refill. While I would like to continue keeping you company till you reach your ten thousand, I can't exactly sign up for that, you see……"
"Wha……you sure I can have this?"
As Mahokl looked on in astonishment, I gave her a broad smirk.
"Sure. I'm not exactly in a position to make demands, but if you do succeed in learning a Critical-related Unique Skill, could you join the Clearers with that ballista of yours in return? I'm sure the bald-headed axeman would be more than delighted about it."
At that point, the petite woodcrafter opened her eyes wide in nostalgia for a moment, before groaning out a "Mn!!" and responding with a profound smile.
"I'll think about it."
"Well then, I'll throw in a freebie. If you're after acquiring a Unique Skill, you'd better take on the 《Meditation》 skill and level it to 500 proficiency."
"Huh……? Why would I need to go out of my way for……"
Just as Mahokl was frowning in doubt, her eyes suddenly opened wide beyond her glasses.
"Ah…… Kirito-kun, could it be that you're the one who……"
By the time Mahokl got to saying that, I had already turned back with my right hand waving to her. As I was briskly walking into the dark gorge, Asuna caught up to me and questioned me in a whisper.
By the time Mahokl got to saying that, I had already turned back with my right hand waving to her. As I was briskly walking into the dark gorge, Asuna caught up to me and questioned me in a whisper.
"Say, what's that about the Meditation skill? I never heard anything about that!"
"Oh, it's not like I have any solid proof for it yet, you see……"
"Geez, you're not weaseling your way out of this one! I have interest in Unique Skills myself, I'll have you know!"
Twisting and turning my body to escape from Asuna's physical attack, consisting of noogies with her fingers on my sides, as if we were back in the old days when we had formed a duo on the lower floors, I said the following.
"Alright, alright already. I'll explain when we get back home, okay."
"I'm going to hold you to your word!"
After one last noogie, Asuna stepped ahead of me and turned around, a radiant smile finding its way on her face.
"Alright, let's go buy something for lunch somewhere and go back home!"
"Oh, I'm personally getting a craving for some seafood from Floor 4 for the first time in a while."
The moment I answered thus, I heard the ballista shooting once again behind me.
And then, the boss treant's bellowing. Although I did feel a slight bit uneasy at the fact that the bellowing was so intense that you wouldn't think it was actually coming from a Floor 3 class foe, it was impossible for any incident to crop up as long as its attacks couldn't reach her.
"Hey uh, seeing as there's a village beside the lake out here, why don't……"Just as I was midway through with my proposal, Asuna gave a light pull on my coat. When I came to a stop and looked at her beside me, the fencer was in the middle of brooding over something with a somewhat uneasy look on her.
"……What's the matter?"
"Ehm……Say, Kirito-kun. Mahokl-san's ballista is officially regarded as a weapon by the system, right?"
"W-well, yeah. The arrows, I mean spears, are flying away straight, and they're even dealing damage too."
Despite my answer, Asuna's expression didn't improve.
"But then…… if we suppose that is the case, what Weapon Skill would be needed to use a ballista? SAO doesn't have any Bow skill, nor does it have a Ballista skill either, right. Is it even possible to use a weapon without a respective Weapon Skill for it?"
"…………"
Unable to answer that question right away, I myself started brooding over the matter.
The action of 《using a weapon without a respective Weapon Skill》 by itself is not impossible per se. For example, a guy without a Spear skill such as myself equipping a halberd and swinging it around…… is technically possible, and I would even be able to deal damage if I managed to land a hit on a monster. However, it would be a miniscule amount, not to mention that I wouldn't be able to activate Sword Skills with the weapon. If we were to consider throwable weapons instead, it'd be impossible to even have it fly straight.
And so, it's not against the system rules for Mahokl to be firing her ballista without an appropriate Weapon Skill per se——and yet it does seem strange that her spears have a perfect streak of hitting the treant, and then there's the fact that the attacks are resulting in proper damage. Generally speaking, weren't the spears supposed to fly who knows where, and weren't even those that did manage to land a hit by fluke supposed to barely leave a dent on the target's HP bar?
"What if……"
At my mutter, Asuna peered into my face.
"What if the ballista is a weapon that was designed early on in the development but was supposed to have been scrapped, just like the usual bows and arrows, due to a change of mind midway through…… in which case, there sure is the possibility of the system deciding to roll out a fix in real-time, just like it did with the infinite material spawn bug……"
"A fix…… so like, the ballista disappearing into thin air all of a sudden?"
"Nah, I can't really imagine that something so supernatural could take place, but…… if the fix were limited to just, for example, disposing of the merits of the weapon, it might actually be plausible……"
"Merits…… so you're saying that it would remove the possibility of attacking out-of-range at no ris-……"
Just as Asuna was midway through finishing her idea, it happened.
Deep inside the gorge, the Indolent Treent bellowed out once more. Its voice was fifty percent louder than it had been before and now carried a tinge of frenzy, causing Asuna and I to stiffen up with a jolt.
Exchanging looks, we nodded to each other, turned around at the same time, and dashed off. Running through tens of metres in a split second, we returned to the entrance of the huge pit.
Mahokl's short back and the huge ballista anchored in place were the first things to spring into my view. While beyond them, in the middle of the stadium-like pit, the Indolent Treent was swinging around its branches-for-arms like crazy while twisting its hulking trunk. 'While it wasn't exactly unheard of for boss monsters to go into a frenzied state, did this guy ever even have such a behaviour pattern?', just as I was about to rummage through my memories from Floor 3's clearing days…
Numerous cracks ran through the ground from where the treant's roots lay. The slight tremors even reached our feet outside of the pit itself, resulting in creaks coming from the ballista's frame. My bad feeling about what was to come suddenly shot up sky high as I attempted to call out to Mahokl, who had apparently yet to notice our presence, to stop her firing. However, just a moment sooner…
'Bogogogoh!', came an exaggerated tremor as the treant's roots were uprooted out of the ground. No, wait, they were actually pulled out…… of its own will.
It took but ten seconds or so for all of the thick roots growing radially outwards from the treant to come out of the ground. By this point, Mahokl had apparently taken note of the aberration with the boss monster herself, as she materialised a short spear that you could clearly tell was high-grade from just a quick look at it, rather than the usual cheap ones she had been using till now, and then loaded it onto the ballista. She probably intended to halt her Critical farming and instead bring her foe down. While I myself do believe she made the right call there, however——
"Mororororooooooh!!"
Unleashing a bellow that was in a whole different league compared to those that had come before, the Indolent Treent whipped the ground with tremendous force using its roots, and began moving at surprisingly breakneck speeds the very same moment. It was a behaviour pattern that utterly belied the 《Slothful》 in its proper name. Most likely, it was an action that had not been programmed in for the creature from the very start, but was rather added in by the SAO game system in real-time as a workaround for the out-of-range attacks coming from the ballista that shouldn't have even existed. In which case, it's possible that its behaviour patterns weren't the only thing changed here.
Once Mahokl pulled the ballista's string, the high-grade spear was fired out with a whiz. Having shot out straight, the spear landed a fine hit on the treant's trunk, yet its HP bar didn't decrease all that much. Nevertheless, Mahokl was about to load her next round, when I called out to her from behind.
"Its stats probably got amplified! You're better off picking up your ballista and pulling back for now!"
Just then, turning around for a mere moment, Mahokl responded with a panic-tinged voice.
"No dice, I need sixty seconds to both set it up and pick it back up again!"
"You wot……"
I instinctively exchanged a look with Asuna. Setting it up taking so long was one thing, but doesn't the fact that it takes a minute to pick it back up again make it practically impossible to retrieve the thing in any case where some crisis breaks out? We were probably a mere forty…… make that thirty seconds away from the Indolent Treent reaching the edge of the pi-——
"Moroh!!"
Bellowing out once again, the tree spirit brandished its right branch up high. 'From every point of view imaginable, it just can't possibly reach us yet', despite such a thought coursing through half of my brain, I reflexively rushed out, grabbed Mahokl's torso and did a back jump that very same moment with all I had. Right afterwards, the branch swung downwards with a roar, its tips growing out mid-air as if the branches were made out of rubber, and smacked the ballista set up over thirty metres away from it.
With just that single strike, the crossarm and frame made out of highly-valuable teak were smashed to pieces, while the bowstring weaved together with dragon tendons came off its clasp and flew out into the air. Looking at the smashed-up loads of timber that flew into the air, Mahokl and Asuna both shouted out, "Argh!", at the same time.
While I myself did feel sad at the sight of what became of the ballista that we had spent so much effort on to gather its materials, we didn't have the time to lament its fate right about now. Letting go of Mahokl's body before the harassment warning could crop up, I pulled out my beloved sword from by back.
"Mororoh!"
As it swung down its left branch this time, the branch grew out mid-air to close in on us in a similar manner. Jumping in front of the two girls, I did manage to neutralise the blow, though a shock wave that was just short of triggering a Stun coursed through my entire body. That felt like a blow from a Floor 40, wait, make that Floor 50 class foe.
"……We could just run away if we felt like it……"
Turning around as I said that, I found Asuna shaking her head without a moment's delay.
"Though rather unlikely, if some player in the Floor 3 level range did come by here, they would be in trouble."
"You do have a point there…… Guess we have no choice but to bring it down then."
Though Asuna and I were over level 90, bringing down a Floor 50 class Field Boss on our own was by no means an easy job to pull off. After glancing at the stock-still Mahokl, I quickly operated my menu window. I then pulled out the 《Dark Repulser》, my other beloved sword, crafted with great care by Lisbeth's Smith Shop, that had appeared on my back with my left hand. That instant, Mahokl's eyes went wide open.
Having pulled out her 《Lambent Light》, a rapier that was likewise crafted by Lisbeth, Asuna said the following to Mahokl.
"Mahokl-san, we'll go bring that thing down, so wait for us here, please."
"…………Oh, no."
Having recovered from her daze, the woodcrafter quickly shook her head, before bringing out her own window. 'She can't possibly be planning on setting up a new ballista, can she……', or so I thought, but what actually materialised into her right hand was a single quarterstaff. Despite being only half the size of the two-handed staff that Taikoku, the guy I had fought the day before, had used against me, it was clearly far higher-ranked as a weapon than his staff. Although I had no solid evidence to support my assumptions, my instincts told me that it was likely made from carefully-chosen rare lumber that she had once commissioned Agil to gather for her.
"I shall fight too. I was the one responsible for amplifying that treant, after all."
Although I wavered for a moment, Mahokl herself was actually a combat-oriented player, rather than an artisanship-oriented one. What's more, she was the leader of the 《Kaishindou》, the group that devoted their entire existence to researching True Critical Hits. If a player like that offered their help in a fight, I couldn't exactly stop her.
"……Alright."
Once I quickly sent out an invite, Mahokl accepted it without any hesitation, which resulted in a third HP bar appearing in the upper-left corner of my view. Nodding to each other, we jumped into the pit from the gorge, dashing out ferociously towards the giant boss monster.
13
Seeing as Asuna, walking beside me, was in a strangely good mood, I timidly asked her the following."Ehm……why are you all smiles right now?"
"Hm, that's a secret."
Despite giving such an answer, Asuna pounced on my left arm, entwining her own arm with it. Seeing as the road leading from the main town of Floor 22 to the lake was as always deserted, I returned the gesture by firmly clutching her hand myself. 'I wonder, will we ever be able to walk through the main street of the player crowd hub of Algade with our hands joined like this one day……', as such thoughts passed through my mind, we continued leisurely walking along the road leading to our home, when…
"……I wonder if Mahokl-san will still be aiming for those ten thousand Criticals……"
Seeing as Asuna muttered this with a change of her facial expression, I groaned out a "Hmmh".
"She did say she wasn't going to construct any more ballistas, after all…… Though she does only need five hundred fifty of them out of ten thousand by now, so she might just finish up the rest with her staff."
"If she does manage to actually unlock a new Unique Skill, I wonder what could it be like…… Hey wait, that reminds me, Kirito-kun, you did say something about the Meditation skill back there; what was that all about? All it does is give a regeneration buff; it doesn't have anything to do with Unique Skills, correct?"
"That is a seeeecret."
Just when I got my payback for her remark just moments ago, my sides were suddenly ground by her right elbow.
Having gained the ability of self-propulsion, the Indolent Treent (modded) actually proved to be quite the formidable foe. A particular pain in the ass was its new-found Defence capabilities that were probably granted to it in order to counter the ballista's penetration power; its bulky bark absorbed my slashes and Asuna's thrusts as if it were a cushion, so I had braced myself for a drawn-out battle to come——or so I had feared, but then an unexpected tip on how to beat the boss came from Mahokl, of all people.
Usually, this type of monster was a poor match for blunt attacks, yet True Criticals specifically were actually abnormally effective. And so I switched my Elucidator for the wooden sword I had received from Taikoku; as I focused on farming Criticals, we managed to mop up in twenty minutes or so.
Just as I received Mahokl's thanks, she extended an invitation for me to join the Kaishindou, but I politely declined; we parted ways upon returning to Zumfut, the main town of Floor 3, together. Seeing as she mentioned returning to her Kaishindou dojo somewhere in Aincrad, Taikoku will probably be relieved upon hearing the news as well. If we ever managed to meet her again after she became the third Unique Skill owner someday, as Asuna had hoped, we'll need to have a grandiose celebration for the occasion, I believe.
There was one thing bugging me though: when we got back to Zumfut, Asuna and Mahokl had vanished from my sight for a good fifteen minutes or so on their own. I was plagued with thoughts like, 'Where on earth could they have disappeared to and what exactly are they up to', or, 'Wait, don't tell me Asuna was invited to the Kaishindou too……', but I was unable to read my esteemed young wife's innermost thoughts from her profile. Well, if it does come to that, becoming a Critler myself might not be so bad.
Eventually, the lakeshore road split into two; once we climbed up a small hill, our cosy log house came into view. Standing still and quietly in a forest that had turned crimson, our home sweet home looked so beautiful that you'd think it came from a fairy tale illustration.
Opening the plain-wooden gate, we passed through the front yard lawn and onto our porch——
At that moment, Asuna let go of my hand and jumped upon the wooden deck that looked out onto the living room. Once she opened her window, 'Ta-da!', she said as she materialised some kind of huge object.
——Don't tell me.
Don't tell me she brought a ballista……? So she disappeared back in Zumfut to get a new ballista produced for her?
That guess of mine, however, was way off, of course.
What appeared there was a rocking chair, shining lustrously due to the autumn sunlight. Just then I finally recalled that Asuna did say that she wanted a second one to have one for both the living room and the wooden deck.
"So you had this made for you…… In that case, I should have ordered a fishing rod for myself. Though, why did you keep it a secret?"
Once I posed this question while walking up to her, Asuna responded somewhat awkwardly.
"Well, I was thinking that maybe we actually were buying up a bit too much furniture…… And you didn't seem all that interested in it, Kirito-kun."
"Why would you ever come to that conclusion."
Upon denying that notion with a straight face, I caught Asuna off-guard by lifting her up into my arms and then sitting down on the new rocking chair with great force. "We can do this on it, after all!", I shouted out as I began rocking us. Letting out a scream, Asuna clung to my neck.
Once the rocking eventually settled down, Asuna peered into my face with a pouty look.
"I swear, you always come up with the most childish of things."
"'Well, I am a child, after all'…… what would you do if I said that, then?"
"Whaa?……Oh, but you do indeed feel like one from time to time, Kirito-kun. Then, how about I start calling you Kii-bou, like Argo-san does, as well?"
"A-anything but that."
Saying thus in a panic, I sneakily sealed Asuna's lips in order to prove that I wasn't an elementary schooler, at the very least. Embracing her slender body tight, I prayed that our time like this would continue on for just a bit more…… even a single day longer.
(The End)
Afterword
Thank you so much for reading Sword Art Online Sugary Days.Or so I thought of starting off, sorta like in a proper Dengeki Bunko SAO novel afterword……but at the present point in time of writing this, the manuscript has, for obvious reasons, yet to be submitted to the printing office; unlike my usual commercial releases, where I just email the completed manuscript to my editor and leave the rest all up to him (though tasks like author proofreading do take place), assured that the book is almost certainly bound to be published, for doujinshi, I'll have to edit the manuscript myself later on, then draw the illustration, and handle other such tasks…… that's why I'm not exactly done yet. Although it is still unclear whether I will actually get the book out, I will proceed with the assumption that it does come out (laughs).
This 『Sugary Days』 series, apparently, began with COMITIA 106 in October, 2013, while its conclusion came out during COMITIA 124 in May, 2018, which means that it has actually continued on for a period of four and a half years. Yeesh, no wonder the book is over two hundred pages long…… though what even I myself find shocking is that I basically never had to change the number of SAO:ME copies that I needed to print throughout that time, so I have no words to thank you all for actively seeking out the releases till the very end. Thanks to you, I even managed to compile Sugary into a single book as you see before your eyes. Not to mention that it's Bunko-sized, just as I had aspired for a great many years……! I'm actually scared of seeing the total printing costs……!
That aside, reading over the whole story from the very start for this, I have got to say "Uwaa" at how incoherent the story is. I do believe that it was unavoidable to some extent, seeing as the series continued for an entire four years, but the initial concept for it was just Kirito and Asuna making out, in the form of a sequel for the 『The Day Before』anime BD bonus……that is all the plot was meant to be, huh. However, as it continued on, the story was bound not to hold up without anything extra added in, so the shady woodcrafter Mahokl joined the cast, while Kirito and Asuna embarked on solving a mystery; in a sense, it ended up as one of my 《usual plotlines》. However, regarding its content, I'm wondering if it was actually a good idea to entwine the Meditation skill that has come up in SAOP volume 6 into the plot here a bit…… Spilling the beans on the designs, all the Unique Skills evolve from the Meditation skill (at a proficiency level of 500 or more), so that is why Kirito did not have Meditation among his skills in this book. If Mahokl-san were to have achieved ten thousand True Criticals, on top of building up her own Meditation skill, she would have acquired the 《Kaishingeki》 Unique Skill, but unfortunately, she probably did not make it in time before the game was cleared a mere nine days after this story……
To add onto the chronology of the story, the 『Sugary Days』 series takes place between 24 October and 28 October, 2024; two days later Kirito and Asuna already encounter Yui. Meaning that this very much nearly covers the entirety of the couple's short newlywed life. I have yet to decide what I am going to write for the upcoming SAO:MEs, but I will do my best so that you enjoy the story to come.
Finally, I would like to say my heartfelt thanks to all the people who helped me with my Circle work, and all those who supported me. Thank you very much!
A certain day in July, 2018 Kunori Fumio/Kawahara Reki
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Thanks. The previous one before the revision seemes kinda off to me
ReplyDeleteAwesome!
ReplyDeleteI'm so grateful that you continued this story after the first person, who translated it, stopped. Somehow, I always come back to it! :D
ReplyDeleteYou and your team, keep up your great work!