Material Edition 28 - Sword Art Online Gaiden X3 [32/33]

So, as of now, the 24th episode of the Alicization anime has finished airing in Japan, bringing an end to the first half of the Alicization anime... as well as killing off the best boi of the series. To commemorate this milestone and rub a load of salt in those oh so fresh wounds, here's an alternative universe where Eugeo and Kirito never cut down Raios and Humbert (as the two asses were conveniently bitten by poisonous crabs) and thus continued with their academy life without breaking the Taboo Index, getting into the Central Cathedral the conventional way. Basically, a version of the story where Eugeo doesn't get bisected...hopefully... just to make the canon tragic ending feel even more heart-wrenching.

I had intentionally planned to do Distant Journey part 2 for this occasion, but then I realised that this might be even more evil (and possibly involve slightly less work, making it easier to get it done on time), so I decided to do ME28 first. For those wondering what a material edition is, these are basically short stories that Kawahara Reki, the author of SAO, self-publishes during a doujin convention called COMITIA. Anyway, now that I'm done with this, I'll probably get back to working on Distant Journey for the next release.

Italic font marks Engrish (English written in katakana) where it's important to point out that the characters aren't using actual Japanese in the instance.

Any feedback is appreciated. No, seriously, if you spot some errors, please let me know. I was kinda rushing to get this done for episode 24's release, so I haven't really proofread it yet and could have easily overlooked some mistakes.

-Gsimenas

Credits

Raws: Takazuki
Translation: Gsimenas

Sugary Days 14

Index

Sword Art Online Gaiden X3 [32/33] ②

1

"Wha…… Raios and Humbert were bitten by a crab and are now critically ill?"

When I responded with my question, Eugeo nodded with a serious look.

"Yeah, they're currently hospitalised at the North Centoria Imperial Hospital, as far as I've heard."

"Hospitalised……"

This raised so many questions that I didn't even know where to start. For starters, to calm down, I gulped down the cofil tea that Eugeo had just made for me.

"Youch!"

"Oh geez, how many times are you going to do that."

Gulping down some cold water that Eugeo poured me from a jug with a stunned expression, I cooled down my throat. Outside the window, a bird that I didn't even know the name of seemed to be mocking me with its cry.

Over a year had already passed since Eugeo and I became pupils at the North Centoria Imperial Swordcraft Academy.

Our Primary Trainee days, devoted entirely to practicing sword arts, studying Sacred Arts, as well as our routine duties as valets, passed by in a flash; afterwards, Eugeo and I were selected as one of but twelve Elite Disciples and gained valets of our own: I got Ronye, while Eugeo got Tiese; just when I thought we had to work harder and harder to prepare for the Four Empire Unification Tournament next spring, we encountered a slight issue. Two high-ranked nobles, named Raios Antinous and Humbert Zizek, who had been meddling with us one way or another since our Primary Trainee days had been stepping up on the frequency and extent of their harassment lately.

Just when I was beginning to think, 'At this rate, either Eugeo or I might eventually lose it and shed some blood within the scope of the academy's regulations!', I heard the aforementioned shocking news.

After another sip of cofil tea, carefully this time, I voiced the greatest question I had.

"Ehm, for starters, what do you mean they were bitten by a crab……?"

Once I did, Eugeo blinked in surprise, before tilting his head.

"Kirito, do you know what a crab is?"

"……You mean, those eight-legged things with pincers for hands……"

Once I formed V signs with my hands to imitate the snipping action, Eugeo smiled, seemingly relieved.

"Yeah, those are the ones. I just had a thought that there might not have been any crabs in your hometown, Kirito."

"We did have some…… but the crabs I know of don't go around biting people, y'know……?"

"The Norlangarth crabs are basically all like that. They live in clean rivers and lakes and they're delicious when you eat them boiled, but…… one species of them is pretty dangerous."

"Dangerous……?"

"Yeah, it's called the Great Fanged Crab. It's around this big……"

Eugeo spread his hands apart, indicating a size that was about equivalent to an adult shiba⁽¹⁾ dog.

"It has a thorny shell, jagged pincers, and large fangs in its mouth. It lurks within still, dirty water, attacking and eating rabbits and foxes that approach the water. Though, while it is rare for them to do so, they do sometimes attack people too…… If you get bitten by those fangs, a poison will run through your body, which could lead to your death if not treated in time."

"A Great Fanged Crab……"

For some reason, I could hear a "Wut ya heck!"⁽²⁾ shout echoing in my mind, but I ignored it and asked my following question.

"……Though, there aren't any dangerous crabs like that within the Swordcraft Academy, right?"

"Of course not. I hear Raios and Humbert went over to Ladino family's domain for a visit during the rest day the previous day, where they approached the waterside. But since Ladino's family just throws away all the trash that builds up through cooking and cleaning into their lake, instead of burning it in a kiln to turn it into sacred power, a Great Fanged Crab apparently began lurking where the water began stagnating."

"……Why would those guys even approach that lake? They're not the kind of guys to enjoy playing in the water, are they?"

"Seems like they were planning to throw out their trash."

"……I see."

Littering along the highway outside the wall, let alone inside Centoria itself, was prohibited by the Imperial Fundamental Law; however, this did not apply to the personal domains of nobles. So, Raios and Humbert decided to throw away their trash into the lake, as they figured it was dirty anyway, and ended up being bitten by one heck of a crab as karmic retribution. That's getting one's just desserts—— though a rather extreme form of it.

"Are those guys alright?"

When I asked that question as a formality, Eugeo gave a nod.

"They just barely made it in time with the counter-poison rite, so they did narrowly make it out with their lives. Though, their legs bitten by the crab were paralysed and it will apparently take around a year till they are able to stand."

"Oh, that so."

'So, everything's fine', drawing this cold-hearted conclusion, I drank up the cofil tea in my cup.

Honestly, now was not the time to be concerned with their well being. Seeing as they won't be able to return to the school for an entire year, the first-seat Raios and second-seat Humbert are practically guaranteed to repeat the school year; meanwhile, Eugeo being fifth-ranked and me being sixth-ranked myself, we will need surpass two more people if we are to become the academy's representative swordsmen.

"……Well, it is an unfortunate turn of events for those guys, but this means we'll now be able to focus on our sword practice…… Let's put in some effort to move up at least by one rank during the summer examination first."

When I mentioned that, Eugeo finally gave a relieved smile.

"You're right. In that case, let's head out to the training grounds right away. I'd like to work on improving my jump for 《Sonic Leap》."

"Eeeh～……Let's do that after dinner."

Before I could finish that, my nape was grabbed from behind.

"Oh no you don't, you've got your Sacred Arts studies waiting for you after your meal! Come on, stand up, stand up!"

"Yeah yeah."

Standing up with an 'alley-oop' and getting a push at my back from my partner, I left the trainee dormitory room.



Ten months later.

Eugeo and I graduated from the academy as first- and second-ranked students respectively, won the Norlangarth Swordsmanship Tournament as representatives of the academy, and then pulled off a draw in the finals of the grandest tournament in the Human Empire - the Four Empire Unification Tournament, thus earning the right to enter the Central Cathedral.

2

"Kirito and Eugeo…… is it. Hmm, so these kiddos are this year's winners?"

As a beautiful-to-an-extreme-degree silver-haired and silver-eyed woman stared down at us with a listless expression, I felt an unprecedented amount—— to be precise, about as much as I had felt in Asuna's flat in Selmburg, the main town of the Sixty-First Floor of the nostalgic Floating Castle Aincrad, when she told me, "Kirito-kun, hurry up and take your clothes off too"— of tension, as I gave the following response to the woman's question.

"Yes, that is correct."

"Why are there two of you, exactly?"

When asked that question, I glimpsed beside me, but it seemed that Eugeo had even lost his ability to speak due to the excessive tension. That's not all that surprising——after all, we were dealing with the Supreme Priest of the Axiom Church, the ruler of the entirety of the Human Empire that surpassed even the emperors of the four empires in authority. Her name was 《Administrator》——a name that was familiar to me yet one I had never heard of in this world; however, I lacked the composure to be concerned about that now.

Kneeling on the marble floor of the 《Grand Corridor of Spiritual Light》 on the fiftieth floor of the Central Cathedral, I once again opened my mouth.

"That would be because our battle in the finals resulted in a draw."

"A draw～? Chudelkin, did that thing even have a time limit, again?"

Administrator's gaze fell upon a small man, wearing a clown-like outfit and headgear, dyed in garish blue and red. Based on the fact that the man had named himself as 《Chief Elder Chudelkin》 to us a while ago, he seemed to be a substantially distinguished personage even within the Axiom Church, but you would definitely not get that impression from the way he looked.

"Hahah…… As I recall, the finals should have had no time limit whatsoever……"

When the short-but-plump-as-a-balloon-clown answered in a shrill voice, Administrator gave a slight nod.

"So it is…… You guys, you're both from the North Centoria Swordcraft Academy, as I understand? You wouldn't happen to have orchestrated that draw, now, would you～?"

That very moment, Eugeo beside me tensed up even more, sweat forming on his forehead. This reaction wasn't surprising either; Administrator's suspicion was, after all, a one hundred percent unembellished truth.

The reason why Eugeo and I had set off from Rulid Village, overcoming trials and tribulations to become Integrity Knights, was to find a girl named Alice Zuberg, Eugeo's childhood friend who had been apprehended by an Integrity Knight nine years ago, and for all three of us to return to Rulid. In order to accomplish such a goal, so grand that we couldn't possibly achieve without both of us assisting each other, we could not allow either of us dropping out of the Four Empire Unification Tournament.

Hence, Eugeo and I had held practice after practice in secret before the tournament to work out a sword fight sequence so intense that no one would catch on, and so prolonged that everyone in the audience, including the nobles and the imperial families, would be satisfied with it; that is, we staged the entire fight. For the climax, we acted out a charge at each other with a Sword Skill, blowing away each other's sword and causing both of us to collapse, unable to stand back up; the umpires, apparently having no doubts about the outcome whatsoever, declared a draw and mutual victory——and that's how we ended up here.

But of course, we could not allow her to acknowledge that our fight was staged.

"Why heavens no, Supreme Priest-sama. I……I mean, my humble self⁽³⁾ and Eugeo fought with all we had; however, we were unable to determine which of us was superior to the other. If this outcome is displeasing, we would be honoured to hold a continuation of the finals right here and now."

When I refuted her claim in an unaccustomedly polite manner, the Supreme Priest gave a minuscule smile.

"Oh my, that does sound interesting…….. Though, I can't have the survivor turning useless on me if one of you ends up killing the other…… So, for this year, I shall acknowledge both of you."

'Whe～～～～w', as I heaved a sigh of relief in my mind, the Supreme Priest approached us, seemingly sliding several centimetres on the floor.

"Now then, I shall appoint you as swordsmen apprentices. Let's see, w-h-i-c-h s-h-o-u-l-d I c-h-o-o-s-e…… Eugeo, you'll be number thirty-two; Kirito will be number thirty-three. From now on, you shall call yourselves Eugeo Synthesis Thirty-two and Kirito Synthesis Thirty-three."

"……Understood."

As Eugeo finally spoke up, I followed suit with a "We are honoured!" in a raised voice. I thought that I may have overdone it, but Administrator just slightly extended her smile, before nodding.

"Do your best…… So that those names one day come true."

Leaving us with those enigmatic words, the Supreme Priest turned around and departed towards the grand doors deeper in the hall. Chief Elder Chudelkin approached us, acting as arrogantly as possible.

"Hohihi……I put number twelve in charge of your tutelage. That one has just awakened, so this is a perfect opportunity for some warm up."

"U…… Understood."

As I stared blankly, unable to understand what he meant by the words 'just awakened', an enormous grin found its way on his enormous mouth for some reason.

"No need to fret about the minor deeetails. Your rooms are on the twenty-eighth floor, so take your tiiime resting there for today…… Starting tomorrow, you'll have a fuuuun practice waiting for you, after aaall, hoho hohho……"

After letting out a high-and-mighty laugh, Chudelkin also turned around. However, after spinning around once without stopping, he once again looked down upon us.

"Ah, I forgot to mention, but if you happen to encounter any knights other than the one in charge of your tutelage within the tower, you are not to start a conversation with them without permiiission. All the knights are veeeery busy people, understaaand?"

With that proclamation, the Chief Elder once again turned around and hopped away. Once the doors in the distance opened and then closed, we were the only ones left in the hall.

Our audience somehow ended without a hitch, thus I heaved a drawn-out sigh audibly this time. Having stood on one knee this entire time, I now relaxed my legs, sitting down cross-legged atop the marble.

"I'm so so beat…… So that's the Supreme Priest, huh, sure is as intimidating as you could expect from one……"

Following my remark, Eugeo also hugged his knees and repositioned himself, before a wry smile appeared on his face.

"Sure is, huh, considering that you remained so composed even in front of Norlangarth's emperor, I didn't think that there was anyone other than Azurica-sensei who could make you flinch, Kirito."

"I-it's not like I flinched or anything. Actually, weren't you yourself incapable of even speaking back there?"

"That's because I figured I'd leave everything up to you from the very start, Kirito."

"Why you!"

After ruffling Eugeo's hair with my right hand, I turned my gaze overhead.

On the absurdly high ceiling, there was a beautiful piece of art, probably based on the creation of the world myth; this once again made me aware of the fact that this was the inside of the Central Cathedral——a white tower that was visible everywhere in the central capital but could never be approached. Eugeo and I were still wearing our Elite Disciple uniforms, thus we felt incredibly out of place. Though, I'd have to refuse an outfit like the one the clown was wearing.

Placing my hands on my knees, 'Alley-oop', I stood up, before giving my right hand to my partner.

"So then, how's about we go over to that twenty-eighth floor or something for now, Eugeo Synthesis Thirty-two-kun."

Grabbing my hand, my partner responded with a displeased expression.

"I'm not going to use that naming. Feels like I'd eventually bite my tongue, after all."

"《Synthesis》 sure is damn hard to pronounce. Though I have no idea what it means."

As we held such a conversation, I began walking towards the door opposite to the one that the Supreme Priest and the Chief Elder had gone through—— and instantly stopped.

"……? What's up, Kirito?"

"Wait…… could this be our chance…… I mean, a perfect opportunity? Starting tomorrow, Number Twelve-san whatsit will become our teacher, right; today might be our only chance to freely move about within the tower by ourselves."

"Eeeeh…………"

That very moment, Eugeo took on his 《expression exclusively used for when I propose something dicey》 as he was about to make some sort of retort, but then he just closed his mouth. After maintaining silence for several seconds with a pensive look on his face, he gave a very slight nod.

"……The monk who led us to the fiftieth floor here told us something. That up to the forty-ninth floor of the Central Cathedral is where the lower-ranked monks and nuns, as well as servants and apprentices live, while the high-ranked priests, Sacred Arts users, as well as the Integrity Knights live above the fifty-first floor. I have no idea what Alice is currently up to……but if she's become a Sacred Arts user, running into her within the tower as apprentices is……"

"Unlikely, huh. Nevertheless, it's not like we can just go about asking everyone we meet if they know where we can find Alice……"

Once I responded as such, Eugeo suddenly grimaced.

"…………Truth be told……"

Head greatly drooping and fists squeezed tight——

"Truth be told, I had intended to say it to the Supreme Priest. 'Please allow me to meet Alice' ……'The Axiom Church was in the wrong when it apprehended a mere eleven year-old girl as a criminal nine years ago.' But I couldn't bring myself to say any of it. The moment I caught sight of the Supreme Priest's silver eyes……my body froze up like a chunk of ice……"

Eugeo suddenly raised his right hand, pressing it against his right eye. As my partner's head drooped down even further, I strongly embraced his shoulders.

"Don't blame yourself, Eugeo. I myself had to give it my all merely to answer what was asked of me. Besides…… if you had said something that defied the Axiom Church back there, our rights as apprentices would've likely been revoked and we'd have been thrown into jail."

"…………You… have a point."

Pressed against my shoulder, his head gave a nod and Eugeo took a step back. A smile still burdened by pain yet having regained some of its usual firmness found its way on his face.

"……Some day, when I become a true Integrity Knight rather than just an apprentice, I will be sure to tell the Supreme Priest what must be said at that time."

"Yeah, sure. Though I would like to find Alice before then."

Having responded with a grin, I sent my gaze towards the door that the Supreme Priest and Chief Elder had used to leave the room.

"You know what, let's pay a little visit over there. Seeing as we've only just arrived at the Cathedral today, the 'we got lost' excuse might just well work for us."

"……I'm kinda getting the feeling that we're eventually going to end up in that jail after all."

Despite answering as such, Eugeo stood beside me and we began walking towards the northern, rather than southern, door.

3

When the enormous door was opened, with great effort taken to make as little noise as possible, we found a grand passage extending straight ahead beyond it. As far as I could see, no people to be found.

As we timidly pressed on, we soon reached a dead end. Though instead of a staircase leading to the upper floors, we found something strange. A tube made of transparent glass that could very well be three metres-wide.

'Whuzzat', as I gazed attentively at it, a strange sound came from the upper part of the tube. 'Pssh', came a sound that seemed like air gushing out…… no, that's exactly what it was. A huge disk, with shiny green air gushing out out from its bottom, slowly came down.

Eventually, the disk stopped atop the floor before us. The bottom part of the glass tube opened like a door and a person riding on the disk—— a girl wearing a simple one-piece dress with an apron gave a bow.

"Pardon me for the wait. Which floor would you like to travel to?"

——'Ain' it an elevator!' came to my mind, but I didn't let it slip my mouth. Eugeo seemed to have been taken aback just as well, but eventually he timidly called out to the girl.

"Ehm…… So you could take us to the upper floors?"

"Indeed, my sir."

"……We are apprentice knights that have just come to the Central Cathedral today; is it okay for apprentices like ourselves to ride it?"

"The order given to me is solely to operate this elevating disk, my sir."

"I see. In that case, we'd gladly take up your offer for a ride; to the topmost floor, please."

When I jumped on the disk with these words, Eugeo followed suit with an expression of having resigned to his fate. The aperture of the glass tube closed shut and the girl placed her hands on the glass tube sticking out from the centre of the disk.

"In that case, I shall take you to the eightieth floor, the 《Cloudtop Garden》. System call, generate aerial element."

The air elements generated by the rite numbered ten. The upper limit of what could be generated at a given time. When the girl made three of them burst, air fired out of the hole at the bottom of the disk, causing it to begin its ascent.

Its speed was a bit slow, but during that time the girl told us some astounding things. That this year would be her one hundred and eighth year working on this job. That she had already forgotten her own name. That her favourite food was a bun filled to the brim with sweet, boiled beans, as well as well-cooled milk——

Eventually, the disk slowly came to a stop and the glass tube door once again opened up. Once we gave our thanks and got off the disk, the girl gave a bow and descended without a sound.

Exchanging a glance with Eugeo, I muttered.

"……She did say a hundred and eight years, right?"

"……She did, yes. Though, I can't bring to see her as older than us……"

"Meaning, Sacred Arts were used on her Life to……"

I couldn't bring myself to put the rest to words. Deep down, I had considered the possibility of needing to resort to violence within the Cathedral in order to take back Alice, but if Supreme Priest Administrator possessed the kind of power…… that even allowed her to halt the natural decline of Life, we might get turned into pill bugs or something just for thinking of opposing the Church.

——Regardless, we can't just stop now though.

Once I told myself that, I once again looked around our surroundings.

As before, no people in sight. A passage like the one on the fiftieth floor extended to the south, another door standing at its end, of course. I had specified the topmost floor, but this didn't appear to be the actual highest floor of the Cathedral.

"She called it the《Cloudtop Garden》, but it sure looks nothing like a garden…… For now, how's about going beyond it."

"……Yeah."

When Eugeo gave a nod, I stood shoulder-to-shoulder beside him as we walked through the passage. Stopping in front of the door, I tried knocking on it just in case, but it barely made any sound, perhaps because the door was just too huge. Naturally, we didn't get any response either.

After making eye contact with my partner, I placed my hand on the left door while Eugeo placed his hand on the right. Once we put some force on it, the door began moving unexpectedly smoothly.

Golden rays of sunlight flooded us from inside, bombarding our eyes.

After several blinks, we peered inside. That very moment a "Wooow……" escaped our mouths. This was indeed a garden. The room, as wide as the fiftieth floor, was brimming with greenery; multi-coloured flowers bloomed in profusion and small butterflies fluttered about. The centre was taken up by a small hill whose summit I couldn't see.

"……No one here either, it seems."

When I muttered this, Eugeo also tilted his head.

"True…… The Central Cathedral is surprisingly sparsely populated, I guess……"

"Well, the fact that you're number thirty-two and I'm number thirty-three adds up to only slightly over thirty Integrity Knights in total, after all. Though I have no idea how many priests and Sacred Arts users are around here……"

After giving matching hmms as we lost ourselves in thought, we looked up at the same time. We can't just stop now after coming this far. 'It's all Chief Elder Chudelkin's fault for not appointing a guide on our return trip from the fiftieth floor!', shifting the blame onto someone else, I stepped into the Cloudtop Garden.

Walking along a stone-paved path, crossing a clear streamlet, we headed towards the central hill. We climbed the gentle slope with caution. The peak covered in short grass was——empty. Not even a single tree grew here.

Exchanging glances with Eugeo, we descended the slope. There was a large door on the opposite wall; upon leaving the room through it, we were met with a set of large stairs this time. It seems we'd need to climb up with our own feet, rather than use an elevator, this time.

Resolving myself to go as far as we could now that it's come to this, I began climbing up the stairs. Once we reached the eighty-first floor, I peered into the passageway, but there was no one there either. Same went for the eighty-second and eighty-third floors.

In the end, we climbed all the way up the grand stairs to the ninetieth floor. We were told by the monk that served as our guide that the Central Cathedral had a hundred floors in total, as far as I recalled, thus we were practically near the very top floor by now.

Rather than a passageway, we found yet another grand door blocking our path on the ninetieth floor. If this were an RPG, this sure would be right about the time we encountered a locked door, huh, let's just be good boys and head back if it's locked…… as such weak-minded thoughts came to my mind, I put my hand on the door.

However, it wasn't locked. 'Gogo'……giving off a loud noise, the door moved, white smoke creeping out from inside this time.

'Something's on fire!?', I thought for a moment, but it didn't smell like something was burning. Apparently, this wasn't smoke, but rather water vapour——or steam, it seemed. 'If that's the case, then what for', as such a thought came to my mind, I carefully walked in.

So spacious. Just like the fiftieth and eightieth floors, the entire floor was taken up by a single room, it seemed. The walls on the left and right were all just huge windows, thus there was ample afternoon light pouring in and being reflected off the shiny, amorphous floor. That floor…… wasn't a floor. It was water. To be precise, hot water. This was a bath.

A stone-paved path ran down the centre of the spacious room, huge pool-like bathtubs on either side. Hot water streamed down with great force from the mouths of several statues, producing a load of steam. Because of that, I couldn't see far inside.

"……And here I thought that the bath in the Elite Disciple dormitory was big……"

Eugeo's whisper prompted my agreement.

"This sure is incredible…….You think anyone would mind if we made use of it ourselves?"

"What are you talking about, now's not the time for that."

"I mean, when are we ever gonna have a chance to come here again……"

Exchanging whispers, we slowly walked along the pathway. A cluster of steam lingered in the air before disappearing, and appeared again after disappearing.

Suddenly——



"Is that you, Fanatio-dono and…… Scheta-dono?"



Hearing a voice from the front, we suddenly put ourselves on guard.

'Splash'. Someone apparently got out of the bathtub and came up to the pathway. Because of the steam, I could only make out the person's silhouette, but——oh shit. After all, the voice clearly belonged to a young woman.

Shouting 'we're so————rry!' as we ran away… was an urge that I considered seriously. However, Eugeo beside me wouldn't budge. He stood there stock still and dumbfounded, as if his spirit had already left his body.

A figure was approaching us from within⁽⁴⁾ the steam. Little by little, the colour and contours of her body became clear. As the last steam dissolved into the air——

There stood a woman with long, dripping-wet, golden hair, and a beauty on the level of the Supreme Priest. A white towel was hanging down in front of her body, but in this world, it was as good as nonexistent. Her lapis lazuli-blue eyes were wide open, first tinged with surprise, then it gradually morphed to anger.

Pressing down on her towel with her right hand, the woman suddenly extended her left hand to the side. Following that, a strange thing took place. From a basket at the edge of the pathway, a golden longsword gently rose up, flew through the air, and found its way to the woman's left hand.

Pointing the long sword, still in its scabbard, straight at us, the golden-haired woman shouted.

"Do you ruffians know that I am the third-ranked Integrity Knight, Alice Synthesis Thirty!"

(To be continued)

Afterword

This is an 《What if Kirito and Eugeo hadn't slashed down Raios and Humbert and instead continued to graduate from the academy》 IF story!

While watching the 3rd season of the anime, I grew and urge to write one and did end up writing it, but now that we've finally reached the part where Alice comes up, it ends on a 'to be continued'…… I am unsure how this story will turn out, but I of course do intend to write a continuation of it, thus I hope you all will keep me company on this drivel story for awhile! Thank you very much!

Colophon

Sword Art Online Material Edition 28
Publisher: WordGear
Date of publishing: 2019-2-17
Supervisor: Kunori Fumio
Printing: Ryokuyou

Sugary Days 14

Index

Sword Art Online Gaiden X3 [32/33] ②

Notes

1. ^ A shiba dog (柴犬), or a Japanese Brushwood Dog, is a dog breed native to Japan. Adult male dogs of the breed are usually about 35 to 43 cm long.

2. ^ This shout is in Kansai dialect. Kirito's probably recalling Kibaou from SAO.

3. ^ Kirito began speaking with his default pronoun: "ore" (俺), a very masculine and assertive first person pronoun that doesn't mesh well with polite speech, but then he corrected himself to "jibun" (自分), a pronoun used when speaking to one's superior, as it sounds more respectful.

4. ^ Kawahara seemingly made a typo here. He wrote 億 (hundred million) instead of 奥 (inside, within), both of which are pronounced as "oku".