Seeing as Rainbow Bridge has been included among the stories compiled in volume 22 of the main SAO series, I decided it's about time to get this old project out of editing hell. I had published my original translation of the story around 4 or so years ago when I was just starting to work on translations; since it was one of my very first translations, it left a lot to be desired (both readability- and accuracy-wise), but I could never get around to finishing it. So, now that the story has been incorporated into the main series, I thought it's the perfect time to get a more refined translation out. I'll be publishing the rest of it (as well as a bigger introduction post) within the next few day.

Markup explanation:

• 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).
• Courier font indicates that the original word was written in kana for emphasis (when such a word usually isn't written in kana)
• 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.
• 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#(What was actually said) (e.g. #shadow fairy race#(Spriggans) - "Spriggans" is what was actually said in text, while "shadow fairy race" is just a brief description of what Spriggans are to help differentiate between the different fairies.

Credits

Raw: Takazuki
Translation: Gsimenas
Editing: Gsimenas, Dennis, M. Oosting

Part 2

Index

Part 4

Rainbow Bridge 3

By my standards, going to bed within the next two hours would be a reasonably early bedtime.

Making such an excuse, I landed in Alfheim, wrapped in a veil of darkness just like the real world.

Though, seeing as this hour of the day is peak time for nearly all net gamers, the main street of the Sylph capital Swilvane was bustling with plenty of fairies. While the majority of them were Sylphs, of course, a considerable number of players of other races could be seen, compared to earlier.

Gazing at the street from the window of the inn that I had used to log out earlier, I could see that the Cait Sith, currently in an alliance with the Sylphs, were indeed the most plentiful of the other races. Next in the rankings would be the #music fairy race#(Pookas) and #darkness fairy race#(Imps), whose territories were close by. Although the Salamanders' territory is geographically adjacent to the Sylphs', seeing as they were still formally in the middle of a war with the Sylphs, it came as no surprise that red-heads were nowhere to be found.

Although my race, the #shadow fairy race#(Spriggans), wasn't in any hostile relationship with the Sylphs, our territory is, after all, on the other side of the realm, separated by the World Tree. Actually, there's also the fact that Spriggans are an unpopular race, so it was impossible to spot a single Spriggan on the main street, just like with the Salamanders.

Having briefly considered how to proceed to my destination without standing out too much, I took out a hooded cloak from my storage and covered myself with it. After additionally reciting the chant for the illusion magic spell 《Moonshade Lurk》, I tiptoed out of the inn.

The Moonshade Lurk spell makes it hard for other people to see the player, but only while the player is within a shadow cast by moonlight (in other words, it has zero effect in dungeons, as they aren't reached by moonlight in the first place). Although this hiding spell had questionable performance, it was the best my measly magic skill could offer. Luckily, the moon was shining brightly this night, while Swilvane had plenty of side streets, thus I advanced in a half-run, doing my best not to step out of the shadow.

Having arrived at the heart of the city after several minutes of travel, I stopped for a moment and looked onwards.

Extending right before my eyes was a #circular road#(rotary), no less than a hundred metres in diameter. In the middle of the rotary towered the most beautiful building in Swilvane── the Sylph Lord mansion. The three-storey building was surrounded by a deep moat, with only a northern and a southern bridges connecting it to the road. The rotary was entirely illuminated by the pale moonlight, leaving no shadows at all for me to hide in.

Standing next to their respective bridges were two extremely strong-looking guardians with their #axe-spears#(halberds) raised high. The only people who could pass through were players registered on the Lord mansion's name registry.

As I recall, Leafa should be registered as well, but even forming a party with her wouldn't allow an outsider to pass. Since I had wings, flying over the moat outside the guardian's view might seem like a good idea, but such a cheap trick was, of course, pointless, as there seemed to be a barrier that nullified any and all magical powers of outsiders, including the ability to fly, within the premises of the Lord's mansion.

I wasn't really planning on breaking in, so getting ahold of a member of the staff coming or going from the mansion to have them convey a message inside would just be common decency; however, I wanted to do my best to avoid this night's visit starting rumours in the future.

"…………!"

Just as I finished that thought, I crouched down, sensing the arrival of the moment that I had been waiting for.

The moon shining palely in a corner of the night sky was being concealed by a black shadow from the right side. It was an artificial lunar eclipse that took place in Alfheim every night. The floating castle Aincrad, orbiting at a high altitude, would overlap with the moon for a mere dozen of seconds. Moreover, the complete obstruction of the moonlight would only last a little under five seconds.

As the pale disk slowly proceeded with the eclipse, all light finally disappeared── that is, the entirety of Swilvane fell under Aincrad's shadow; at that very moment, I jumped out of the back alley.

There were few people on the streets in this area, lacking in stores, though that didn't mean there weren't any players whatsoever. Although nobody should be able to see me when I'm using 《Moonshade Lurk》, I traversed the rotary in a split second, praying that the sharp-eared Cait Sith wouldn't hear my footsteps. At the midpoint of the two bridges, I placed my right foot on the cast iron fence that separated the moat from the road and jumped with all my might.

As soon as a player went above the deep black surface of the water, they could no longer use their wings or magic. According to rumours, some kind of terrifying aquatic-type monster lurking within the nearly ten-metre-wide moat would apparently turn any players that fell into the water into Remain Lights, away from prying eyes at the bottom of the moat. Since the player's Remain Light would appear in front of the moat, my attempt at trespassing would be made clear as day if I were to end up like that.

Jumping ten metres without the help of flight was absolutely impossible even for an agile Spriggan. So, I drew out the sword hanging on my back mid-air and extended my hands to their utmost limit. The tip of the sword just barely managed to lodge itself into the stone blocks on the opposite bank.

If this were a mere rock lying in the outside fields, the sword forged by the master smith Lisbeth would have simply torn it to pieces; however, it was impossible to destroy structures inside a town. Taking advantage of this, I forced the tip of the sword into the block with all my might, causing my body to be flung forward by the recoil.

With the additional small jump, my left hand somehow managed to reach the opposite shore. Sheathing my sword into my scabbard, I nimbly crawled up. A slight metallic sound had rung out when I hit the stone with the tip of my sword, but the bridge guardians, luckily, hadn't moved.

Crouching down once again, I began running; the moment I dived into the shadow of a garden tree, the short lunar eclipse ended.

"…………Phew."

With a small sigh, I looked up at the Lord's mansion right in front of me. My destination was, if I recall correctly, the centre of the top floor. Although I didn't know whether the person I wanted to visit was there, all I could do was wait patiently if she were absent.

From this point on, I would no longer be able to rely on the blessing of the Moonshade Lurk spell. Praying that there wouldn't be any guardians within the building, I stashed the sword on my back into my item storage, before sneaking towards the wide-open front entrance.

Five minutes later.

Having somehow managed to arrive at my destination, I checked on my surroundings once again in front of the elegant double doors on the third floor of the Lord's mansion.

There were no signs of people in the vast corridor. It seemed the majority of the players serving in the government were in the middle of a friendly chat in a hall on the second floor, so I was able to come up here without being noticed, though if the person I needed to meet with was on the second floor as well, my efforts would all go to waste. Praying that my good luck would hold out to the end, I took off my hood, before knocking on the door.

After a little while,

"Come in."

Came the reply in a familiar voice. Sighing in relief, I pulled the silver door handle, opening the door just enough to quickly slip through.

Once I closed the door with my hands behind my back, the female player operating her Lord-exclusive window at the large desk in front of me raised her head.

When the female Sylph Lord Sakuya, wearing an elegant kimono-style dress, recognised me, she first furrowed her fine brow, then tilted her head, before finally raising her right index finger.

"May I confirm something just to be sure?"

"Anything you wish."

"I assume that the Salamanders hiring you to take my head…… isn't the reason that brought you here, is that right, Kirito?"

"Eh…… is that possible system-wise? That is, a Spriggan like me can pass the Lord killing bonus to the Salamanders……is that how it works?"

"It is possible, if you are officially employed as a mercenary, that is. Although you wouldn't be able to walk even a hundred metres into the town without a Pass Medallion in that case, as the guardians within the city would react to you the same way as they would towards Salamanders."

"Really now…… oh no no, of course the answer is no."

Raising my hands to indicate that I bore no hostility towards her, I revealed my goal for coming here.

"Truth is, there's something I'd like you to tell me, Sakuya-san."

"…………You trespassed into the Lord's mansion for a flimsy reason like that?"

"Well, sorta…… After all, I'm not registered as your friend, Sakuya-san, so I can't send you messages…… besides, I didn't want this to be heard by others……"

When I explained my circumstances in a way that made me sound like a girl from a romantic comedy, the Esteemed Lord gave a slight shake of her head, before nodding.

"…………I see. However, bear in mind that I am still technically a Lord. There is a limit to what I can tell a member of another race in my position. Even if I do owe you for saving my life."

"Oh, that is completely fine with me. I did not come here to have you divulge some Sylph military secrets, after all. Besides, I am of course prepared to offer my own intel as compensation for your help."

"Hoh? I wonder, what would that be?"

"The method I used to infiltrate the Sylph Lord's mansion, as well as a countermeasure against it."

Just then, Sakuya blinked in surprise, 'Hahaha', before laughing out loud. I had no choice but to pray that her laughter had not reached the floors below.



Savouring the high-class-looking wine personally served by the Lord, I once again explained the reason for my unscheduled visit, starting from the beginning.

Having listened to it in silence, Sakuya gave a slow nod at the end of my story.

"Around ten days ago, I also did the 《Deep Sea Plunderers》quest myself."

"Wha, you, the Esteemed Lord, did it personally……you say?"

"Even I want to go through a dungeon from time to time. Besides, I have participated in Aincrad's floor boss raids several times now, as you should recall."

"I-Indeed."

"However…………"

Being a woman of action, the Esteemed Lord drank up her wine in one breath, before giving a slight tilt of her head.

"When I did the quest along with other members of our government, we did not encounter Kraken, nor Leviathan."

"Wha?"

"When we handed over the pearl, or egg, or whatever it was that we had found in the temple to the old man NPC without any concerns, he just expressed his gratitude and the quest was cleared without anything out of the ordinary happening. Then, the old man summoned a humongous giant squid, who then grabbed us with its tentacles and carried us to a beach…… though, honestly, it wasn't a very enjoyable experience."

"Gi……Giant squid, you say? Not what I would have expected, but I guess it might have been an interesting sight in a sense…… I mean, ehm, so are you saying that there is a divergence in the plot based on whether the player handed over the pearl?……"

"It appears so. Actually, most people would just hand it over, I believe."

I responded to Sakuya's wry smile with a wry smile of my own.

"Aaactually, I was just about to hand it over myself, you see…… but just as I was on the verge of doing so, it was snatched from my hands by Asuna……"

"Haha, you just can't underestimate her sixth sense, huh."

Having laughed for awhile while gazing at me as I nodded at her remark, Sakuya said the following while pouring herself a second glass of wine.

"We've come to an understanding regarding the quest route branching. So…… in short, what was it that you wanted to ask me?"

"Ehm…… in short, I was wondering whether you happened to have heard of anything called the 《New Mimuro》 , which was mentioned by Leviathan…… For example, have you come across any buildings at the bottom of some ocean that resemble the underwater temple, aside the aforementioned temple itself……?"

"Hmm…… no such place comes to mind right now, but……"

After a bit of thought, the Lord operated her exclusive menu, causing a map so large that it covered her entire large desk to appear. A complete map of Alfheim, several times more detailed than what us commoners had at our disposal.

"This is technically highly classified, but so be it. On this map, we have recorded all unique points: discovered quests, significant buildings and stone monuments, secret paths, and so forth. Now if I were to look up 《Mimuro》 on this……"

Once her white fingers quickly finished typing on the map, the results came up on the search window in an instant. The number of matches: zero.

"Then how about 《The Child》……not listed either, huh. 《Kraken》…… 《Leviathan》……neither of them are listed either."

"How about 《egg》?"

"Isn't that a little too vague…… see, over a hundred matches. There are heaps of quests related to doing something with some kind of egg, like searching for them, protecting them, destroying them, or cooking them."

"I-is that so…… Hmm……"

Staring at the two-dimensional map of the fairy homeworld, I played back the conversation between the Lord of the Sea and the Lord of the Abyss in my mind.

‘It's been a long time, my old friend…… How long [...] as a servant to the Aesir…...One day, I shall claim The Child's power……the one that will someday rule all the sea and air…………'

──All the sea and air.

"U-uhm, Sakuya-san."

"What?"

"Are three dimensional coordinates of unique points recorded on that map of yours?"

"Of course."

"Then, for starters, could you tell me the point located at the lowest altitude? Oh, excluding Jotunheimr."

Nodding, Sakuya nimbly sorted the data.

"The lowest point is located at minus 98 metres. The quest name is……《Deep Sea Plunderers》."

The Lord's pupils glinted with a momentary flash of light. I nodded in return, before voicing my next request.

"Then, next up, the point located at the highest altitude. Excluding Aincrad."

"……That doesn't even need to be looked up."

"Huh……?"

"Because the answer is obvious. The enigma, located at the topmost location in Alfheim……"

Pointing at the large window behind her with her left thumb, the beautiful Lord gave a broad grin.

"Would be the summit of the World Tree."

Part 2

Index

Part 4