This part kinda rounds up the story with what we were all expecting to happen with Lipia, though it's still open-ended (and kinda uneventful... :/), so there's still room for sequels. I'm surprised that Shasta managed to rope somebody from the Dark Territory's leadership into his plans, to be honest. But I guess it comes as no surprise WHOM he roped in.
There's technically one more part to the story, but it's just a single page look at the real world. Specifically, why Gabe and crew haven't made their deban yet (spoiler: cakeversey explanation for the villain's absence, of course), so the Underworld stuff in this story has already come to an end here.
Under our current plans, we should be releasing that belated Lycoris chapter at the end of next week.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the release. If you have any suggestions/requests for what to work on, feel free to leave a comment or contact us through Twitter/Discord/Email.
Any feedback is appreciated.
-Gsimenas
Credits
Raws: CelestTranslation: Gsimenas
Editing: Gsimenas, emil
Proofreading: JengKay
Translation (choice/nuance) comments:
- Aside from instances where actual system commands are recited, Sacred Arts elements are almost always referred to with Japanese expressions (kanji), rather than English words. Since the Japanese kanji terms aren't as sophisticated as the English variants, I translated the element names literally when they are mentioned in actual Japanese. For example, the "cryogenic" element is called the "freezing element" (凍素) outside of commands.
- "swiveling my head around in all directions in utter confusion" - the original phrase was 何だ何だと周囲を見回してから, which would literally mean "looking around in a 'what the, what the' manner". Rephrased it to sound more natural.
- When honorifics go with names, I left them as is. However, I localised honorifics that went with titles. "Esteemed" is a localisation for "-sama" after a title. I didn't have a good equivalent for -dono, so I left that as is.
- The Dark Territory in Underworld has two names. One is in katakana English (i.e. ダークテリトリー), the other is in actual Japanese (暗黒界, literally "darkness world/realm"). For better distinction between the two names, I translate 暗黒界 as "The Land of Darkness".
- The word for hawk in Japanese (鷹) can either mean hawk or falcon. Since V12 didn't make mention of this and so I had no references for what Yen Press would pick, I just went with one option at random.
- I translated instances of Hawk-Helmet-san as Mr. Hawk-Helmet, as -san is used to imply that "Hawk-Helmet" is referring to a person, rather than a notion of respect.
- Since Kirito is unaware of Fanatio's gender in this universe yet and the narration is from his perspective, I treated Fanatio as a guy until revealed otherwise, since English requires an explicit reference to gender with their pronouns.
- "There was no one at the table with any particular reaction to the phrase [...]" - the word "phrase" was actually "word" in Ingurisshu in the original text, but I had to change this, since it's actually two words in English, while Japanese was referring to it specifically as a single word.
- All instances of the word "dragon" use the word 飛竜 (hiryuu, "flying dragon") in the original text. I omitted the "flying" part because a non-flying dragon would just be a lizard or something in the West. And the anime sure portrays the UW dragons as regular Westernish dragons, rather than a wyvern or something, so I'm not sure what the "flying" bit is supposed to achieve.
- "hurdles…… I mean, obstacles" - Kirito uses Ingurisshu at first, then changes it to actual Japanese so Eugeo would understand what he's trying to say there.
- 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).
- 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.
5
18th Day of the Fourth Month, 381 HEC; 11:30.As soon as we finished our morning practice, Eugeo and I bolted down the Grand Stairs five steps at a time to return to the twenty-eighth floor.
After hurling away our sweat-drenched training uniforms at the communal bath on that floor, where we washed off our sweat in a matter of two minutes, we changed into our usual knight uniforms. Bolting down the stairs again, we rushed into the Great Dining Hall on the tenth floor. We weaved through the monks and nuns enjoying their meals to burst into the kitchen, where we made our way to the refrigerated storeroom in the back, wrapping up our courtesy call with the head chef along the way in a hurry.
We then took out the two different cakes from the freezing-element-cooled shelves and stored them inside the dedicated transportation box. Since we couldn't exactly dash our way to our destination with these in hand, we decided to head up the stairs at the most brisk walking pace we could manage——or at least we were about to do so.
All of a sudden, the monks and nuns stopped eating all at once, a hushed commotion breaking out in its stead, thus Eugeo and I stopped in our tracks right in the middle of the Grand Dining Hall. After swiveling my head around in all directions in utter confusion, I glanced towards the huge doors that lead to the Grand Stairs, freezing up in a jolt at that very instant.
Standing there leaning against one side of the open doors was a slender figure. That light purple dress and long, platinum silver hair could only belong to Supreme Priest Administrator herself.
The monks and nuns whispered things like "The Esteemed Supreme Priest……?" "The one and only……?" amongst themselves, but eventually they all probably arrived at the natural conclusion that the Central Cathedral——make that the entirety of the Human Empire, couldn't possibly have any scoundrel that would dare to impersonate the Supreme Priest. Standing up in sync, they placed their crossed hands at their chests and gave a low bow, a salute that slightly differed from the salute knights use.
At that point, the Supreme Priest left the door behind her, as she gave a gentle wave of her hand.
"That'll do, please return to your meals, everyone. Kirito, Eugeo, hurry up over here."
Having heard this remark of hers, we couldn't exactly keep on standing like poles indefinitely. We crossed the Dining Hall at a brisk pace, coming before the Supreme Priest. Since both of our hands were occupied with holding the plain wooden transportation boxes, we gave as deep of a bow as we could in place of a knight salute, before I timidly enquired the following.
"Umm, Esteemed Supreme Priest, what would you be doing here?"
"What even prompted this question; I've graciously come to pick you guys up, isn't it obvious?"
After spending about a second staring fixedly at the ruler's face as she languidly gave such an answer, I opened my mouth once more.
"B-but, why would the Esteemed Supreme Priest herself be……?"
"Because the only ones capable of using this art are me and that runt, silly."
Saying thus, Administrator tapped on the tile at her feet with the tip of her lavish shoes.
At that point, a board with a white glow that was likely at least one metre wide and two metres high gradually rose up from the nearby floor without a sound. Once the glow vanished, I managed to make out that this board was, in fact, a door with some simple embellishments. This was the spatial transportation art that I had also witnessed when Cardinal the Sage invited us to the Library Room.
As Eugeo and I stood there petrified, the Supreme Priest opened the door and took one step inside. With a minuscule turn towards us——
"Are you coming with me, or not? Not like I mind if you don't, but do keep in mind that if you fail to get to the ninety-fifth floor in the next eight…… make that seven minutes and forty seconds, I'll be turning you into sugar jars."
"W-we are coming, we are!"
Once I stepped through the door with that shout, Eugeo followed after me as well. According to my calculations, we should have managed to reach the venue thirty seconds ahead of the talks at twelve o'clock just fine, but even the slightest of troubles encountered along the way would basically guarantee our tardiness. Besides, I dread to discover what happens to those who squander the grace of Her Holiness the Supreme Priest herself coming to pick them up even more so.
Once the door closed behind Eugeo on its own, our surroundings were enveloped in pure darkness for a single moment, though a new door opened up ahead of us right afterwards. Beyond it, we found ourselves already standing at the 《Morning Star Lookout》 on floor ninety-five; a long, pure-white table and ten chairs were already set up in the hanging garden filled with gentle sunlight, some of which already hosting participants of the event.
Once Administrator walked up, the people sitting at the table stood up all at once.
Alice in a blue knight uniform and Scheta-sensei in a dark-grey uniform. Although both of them were armed with swords, they did not have any armour on.
In contrast, next to Scheta-sensei was a single fully-armoured Integrity Knight. This knight had silver armour, beneath which he wore a deep-purple knight uniform; I couldn't see his face, as this knight had a full-face helmet with eagle or hawk ornamentations covering their head.
'Wonder who's this……', just as this thought came to my mind, a fourth knight appeared from the spiral staircase leading to the floor below, with the Elevating Operator in an apron dress leading the way.
Black armour and a dark purple mantle. Since she wasn't wearing any helmet, her dark skin and black hair were laid bare for all to see. She was Lipia Zancale, the Dark Knight from the Dark Territory.
Having come to a stop upon climbing up the stairs, Lipia looked over the other three knights in order, before giving a light bow. Unsurprisingly, she wasn't armed with her sword, though the aura she gave off was no less impactful than that of the Integrity Knights. Once she walked over to the table with a dignified gait, the hawk-helmet knight pointed to the foot of the table——the spot where Cardinal would always be seated——in silence.
Once Lipia moved over to it and froze in an upright posture, Administrator began striding forward herself. She crossed the marble floor with a gait that didn't seem to be bound by gravity, reaching the seat at the head of the table. Having casually sat down onto the seat, she gestured with her hand for the knights to be seated as well.
Eugeo and I made fleeting eye-contact with each other, before sitting down in our usual chairs. At this point, eight of the ten seats were now filled.
'Wonder if that's everyone for the day's event'……but just when that thought crossed my mind, the 《Anywhere Door》 that had remained summoned behind us once again opened up; a girl in a robe and square cap briskly walked out of it. It was Cardinal the Sage. Concurrently, a small black spider leapt off my head, 'Bofun!', morphing into her Onee-san mode mid-air with a cloud of smoke.
This time, Cardinal was led to the chair just to the right of the Supreme Priest. They were so close that they could basically touch each other if they were to just extend their hands——meaning that they were in range to use arts on one another. 'I've gotta butt in if it looks like things are getting hairy!', or at least that's what I would like to do, but my seat was next to the one (Charlotte's) that was next to the one on Cardinal's right (Scheta-sensei's), thus I was a bit too far off.
The seat at Administrator's side not occupied by Cardinal, which is to say the one on her left, was taken up by the hawk-helmet knight whom I knew so little about that even his name eluded me, thus I instead turned to Alice next to him, attempting to send her a "I'm counting on you if anything happens!" signal with my gaze, though I wasn't quite sure if she actually got the message.
Seeing as Mr. Hawk-Helmet was sitting closer to the head of the table than Alice, who ranked third among the Integrity Knights, this would imply that he was either ranked second or first, but thenKnight Commander Bercouli Synthesis One had to be the one ranked first, in which case, perhaps this knight was the one that Corsche and the others mentioned in our conversation last night……
As my thoughts reached that point, the Central Cathedral's time bell solemnly played the melody for noon.
"Well then, shall we begin."
In response to Administrator's words, Alice took to serving tea for the people closer to the head of the table, while the Elevating Operator did the same for the people closer to the foot. During every discussion, the big moment for the cakes always arrived when the discussions had already settled down to some extent, thus Eugeo and I placed the transportation boxes on the nearby trolley. The boxes are stuffed with ice made from freezing elements, thus there were no concerns about the Life of the cakes decreasing for the time being.
Once the nine of us, excluding the hawk-helmet knight, took a sip of the tea, Administrator was the first to get the ball rolling on the dialogue.
"So? Dark Knight Lipia-chan, what business brought you flying to the Human Empire?"
There was no one at the table with any particular reaction to the phrase 'Dark Knight'. The Integrity Knights were briefed on the whole thing beforehand as a matter of course, I presume, while Cardinal was informed by Charlotte as well. I do get the feeling that this was news to the Elevating Operator, but there wasn't a single change to her face even after she learnt that the knight sitting just to her right was a resident of the Land of Darkness as she continued adding sugar to her black tea with some Siral for aroma.
Meanwhile, I felt like I was on pins and needles. The same probably applied to Eugeo.
When she first gave her name at the Great Eastern Gate yesterday, Dark Knight Lipia had said, "I have come to this land bearing a decree from my lord."
Although it appears that this order of hers didn't involve assassination or sabotage, I don't really get the impression that this conversation will be going all that smoothly, seeing as Lipia's lord was some bigwig from the Dark Territory known as the 《Dark General》 or whatever the title was. After all, his title was 'Dark General'…… in the worst case scenario, it was even possible that the people of the Land of Darkness got tired of waiting for the Great Eastern Gate to collapse and had thus sent us a declaration of war already.
As I held my breath for how this would play out, Lipia gently placed her teacup onto the saucer and then straightened up.
"——Supreme Priest-dono, first I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your graciousness in healing the wounds of my dragon, Miokake, as well as bestowing some water and food for him. I had checked on my dragon this morning and found that he had entirely regained his vitality, it seems."
"That's only natural, my capable grooms were the ones looking after it all this time, after all."
Bowing her head in silence at Administrator's words, Lipia straightened up her posture once again. After a light cough, as if having made up her resolve—— "On that note, I will hereby convey the words entrusted to me by my lord, Vixur Ul Shasta, to the Supreme Priest-dono, as well as the honourable Integrity Knights present here. ——As the representative for the alliance between Dark General Shasta and the boss of the Merchants Guild, Rengil Gila Scobo, I would like to hereby request negotiations for reconciliation with the Axiom Church that rules over the Human Empire."
Twenty minutes past six o'clock in the afternoon.
Having returned to our room utterly drained, Eugeo and I plopped down onto the sofa without energy to spare for even the simple action of getting changed, whereupon we turned to each other's shoulders for support as our muscles lost their tone.
This exhaustion came about because Scheta-sensei had worked us to death for an entire four hours, firm and proper, after the tea party ended at two in the afternoon. Since the talks had been chaotic to an unprecedented degree, I was so sure we'd be let off the hook from our afternoon practice, but according to Scheta-sensei, "This and that are entirely different matters", apparently.
Although the message entrusted to Dark Knight Lipia was, shockingly, one of 《peace》, it was mainly Mr. Hawk-Helmet's fault that the discussion had become so chaotic. As I had predicted, the guy behind the hawk was the second-ranked Integrity Knight, Fanatio Synthesis Two-san——the Vice Knight Commander that had once given Hatoa a mysterious piece of sweets long, long ago——yet this knight seemed to be seething with immense hostility towards this Dark General Shasta character for some reason, seeing as he was on the verge of drawing his sword in the heat of the moment upon asserting that "Reconciliation negotiations are unfeasible!"
While I found myself incapable of doing anything other than internally muttering "Awawawawa", I noticed that the Supreme Priest was giving me a signal with her eyes, so I mustered up my courage and stood up. Barely fending off the aura seething with a thirst for blood that Vice Knight Commander Fanatio was giving off, I first took off the lid from the shortcake with a double serving of strawberries, had Scheta-sensei cut it up into ten equal slices as usual, and then delivered everyone's shares in front of them, at which point the Supreme Priest said the following.
——'Fanatio-chan, you can't eat without taking your helmet off. If you don't want it, I'd be more than happy to take it for myself.'
"……Man, oh man…… I'm sure glad that the Vice Knight Commander decided to eat some cake……"
As I muttered this while remembering the prim beauty of the face that belonged to Fanatio, who turned out to actually be a woman, Eugeo also gave a deep nod to my remark while leaning against my right shoulder.
"True that……Looks like you were right, Kirito, it was a good call to serve the slice with the most ginormous and glossy strawberry to the Esteemed Vice Knight Commander."
"The head chef had this to say about that strawberry: 『Ya'd be hard-pressed ta find even a single strawberry this good after inspecting a thousand strawberries』, after all. Though I was getting some cold sweat at the possibility that the Supreme Priest would complain, 『I want that one』, at that point……"
"Haha, surely she wouldn't have…… wait, now that I think about it, I did get the feeling that she had been staring at it motionlessly……"
As he muttered this, Eugeo's head slowly slid down from my shoulder to my chest, eventually landing on my lap. He went on to close his eyes afterwards, so I was beginning to fear that he was planning to just fall asleep like that, but then he opened his mouth once again.
"……Kirito, do you think that it's feasible? To achieve peace……with the Land of Darkness."
I took some time to digest those words, uttered in a faint whisper, inside my mind.
Avoiding the final showdown against the Dark Territory, that is to say, the 《Final Load Test》. This was the ultimate mission bestowed upon me by Cardinal and Administrator.
When I was riding her dragon Yukiori with her, the Supreme Priest had said the following to me.
——Just like you had me form a truce with Cardinal, find a way to do something about the Dark Territory invasion. The Integrity Knights exist for two reasons…… the first is to kill Cardinal, the other is to repel the forces of darkness. If both of these reasons ceased to exist, I'd have no need to increase the number of knights anymore.
Honestly, as I am right now, I don't have the combat capabilities to do something about the Dark Territory Army directly. Both my skills with the sword and my Sacred Arts techniques are a far cry from those of the high-ranked knights. So, Lipia's words do sound like a ray of hope to me——but, the issue is that among the 《Ten Lords of the Land of Darkness》 that reign over the Dark Territory, only a mere two of them desire peace. The other eight of them are eagerly awaiting the collapse of the Great Eastern Gate, particularly the leader of an organisation known as the 《Dark Mages Guild》; 'she probably wouldn't approve of peace even if heaven and earth toppled over……', or so Lipia had mentioned. The winged gargoyle-like monsters that had pursued her to the Great Eastern Gate were apparently unleashed by the Dark Mages in order to assassinate Lipia, or so she claims.
This is to say that if we wanted to actually get down to reconciliation negotiations, we'd have to get the Dark General and the boss of the merchants guild to do something about the warmongers on the Dark Territory side. Though, if persuasion is proving to be this problematic, disposing of them by force would be even more difficult. That's where 'We'd like to receive assistance from the Axiom Church——' comes in. Having finished her slices of the two cakes during this discussion, Dark Knight Lipia Zancale bowed her head as she made this request.
"Hmm~~m……"
A groan came from me as I ruffled Eugeo's curls with my left hand.
"Based on what Lipia-san has mentioned, there's heaps of hurdles…… I mean, obstacles getting in our way for that. Though, well, I don't get the impression that this path is without prospects either."
At my words, Eugeo opened his eyes. Following a blink of his emerald eyes, he gave a calm smile.
"Yeah, I think so too. After all…… just three years ago, we were just woodcutters in a forest to the south of Rulid. And now look at us: we're having sword and arts training sessions at the Central Cathedral in the central capital…… in fact, we're even making cakes for the most eminent individual in the Human Empire, the Esteemed Supreme Priest, every week. No one in Rulid Village would ever believe us if we told them any of this."
Lifting his left hand, he grabbed the hand I had been using to stroke his head, whereupon he closed his eyes once more——
"That's why, with the two of us working together, I'm sure that it's possible. To both establish peace with the Dark Territory, return Alice to her former self…… and to take back your memories as well, Kirito."
Asserting as such, Eugeo returned his left hand to his stomach.
Before long, I began to hear quiet sleeping breaths. It was almost time for dinner, but there's nothing wrong with being a bit late today.
Continuing to gently stroke my partner's head, I turned my gaze outside the window. There were plenty of things to do tomorrow as well. The shipment of apples should have arrived at the Grand Kitchen, thus we'll have to get started on making our apple tart prototypes for the next rest day, and then there's that thing about enigmatic brown sweets that we have to ask Vice Knight Commander Fanatio about. If that's not enough, while eating her piece of the shortcake and cheesecake, Dark Knight Lipia also muttered that they seemed a bit similar to the whats-it sweets from the Dark Territory. She would be staying at the Cathedral for the time being, but I probably should get started on gathering intel from her sooner than later.
"Though……how exactly did I end up baking cakes in another world……"
After I muttered this with a sigh, a thought about making some cakes for Asuna, Suguha, and the others when I get back to the real world someday cropped up in my mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment