Material Edition 27 - Sugary Days 14

As those of you following the Sugary Days stories already know, 17:19 on 24 October 2024 is the exact moment when Kirito officially married Asuna in Sword Art Online. And what better way to celebrate this moment than with a translation of the final Sugary Days ME? Especially since it ticks off practically everything on a KiriAsu wish list: a princess carry, hugs, "I love you"s, hair stroking, long kisses, nostalgic references to the past, and falling asleep in each other's embrace... well, I guess the only thing it's missing is Kirito's animalistic urges, since he apparently grew out of that phase by now.

However, it probably comes as no surprise to anyone familiar with Kawahara at this point, the story ends with a "But wait, there's more!", since the guy apparently wrote an original epilogue for the Sugary Days compilation. I already read that epilogue, so I can say that it wraps up Mahokl's story a bit better, but if you were expecting a followup on the teasers at the end of this story... then tough luck to you...

P.S. I would also like to note that this Material Edition repeats quite a significant bit from the end of the previous Material Edition... with some very minor or cosmetic changes. Some of these changes didn't even change anything in the translated version, as Kawahara just changed one grammatical structure to a grammatical equivalent, which is pretty hard to reflect in a translation. Oh, and this ME doesn't have a cover illustration. Kawahara ran out of space, so he had to use the cover for the rehash from the previous ME.

Any feedback is appreciated.

-Gsimenas

Credits

Raws: Takazuki
Translation: Gsimenas
Editing: Cirtoyt
Proofreading: JengKay

Translation (choice/nuance) comments:

• Taikoku is a total dork who speaks in dialectal samurai speech... to account for the three-in-one package, I made all his lines broken archaic English. Kirito and Asuna catch the dialect bug in some instances of the text too, which is reflected with the same speech styling as Taikoku's.
• "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.
• See here as a reference to the parts of a ballista.

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).
• 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#(What was actually said) (e.g. #cat fairy race#(Cait Sith) - "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.

Sugary Days 13

Index

Epilogue

Sugary Days 14

Thirty minutes later.

Having seen off Taikoku as he returned to the main town at the border between the log house and the front yard, we both found ourselves looking at each other.

Jumping forward nimbly with both feet, Asuna slipped her arms around my body and gave me a squeeze. Seeing as our heights weren't all that different from each other, we'd inevitably find ourselves bumping into each other with our foreheads when we're this close to each other.

"W……where did all of this come from out of the blue?"

"Mm, I kinda had some things I was thinking about. Like, you sure have fun when you're fighting, Kirito-kun…… yet I still couldn't bear to watch the Duel nevertheless……"

"…………Is that so."

I then returned the hug on her slender body, peering into her hazel eyes at point-blank range.

"Sorry, I should have consulted with you before accepting the Duel. I kinda found myself under the spell of his initiative……"

"Hu-huh, he was quite the amazing person in many ways. Even in the real world, I've never heard anyone speaking in such a thick Kagoshima dayalekt."

"Naizer hev Ai. Though, the guy himself admitted that it was fake."

After laughing for a bit in a low voice, we exchanged a short kiss, before separating from each other.

Upon hearing Taikoku's story, we've basically resolved almost all of the mysteries that had piled up over the course of three days. However, there was still one single thing that I didn't get.

If Mahokl hid herself after breaking away from the True Critical Pursuers group, named as the 《#Way of the Critical Hits#(Kaishindou)》, that she herself was spearheading, why was she attempting to construct a ballista that was seemingly directly responsible for her breaking away from her group?

This probably wasn't a matter that outsiders like me or Asuna should poke our noses into any further. I assume that Taikoku will be able to track down Mahokl's atelier in the main town of Floor 3 someday even if he didn't hear it from me; besides, it doesn't seem like it's going to lead to some perilous situation anyway.

Still, we were the ones who gathered up all the materials for the ballista that Mahokl is trying to construct——or perhaps she already has constructed one; besides, Taikoku did mention this. The reason why their chief Mahokl hid away wasn't just because she had found the recipe for a ballista, but also because——the people had begun talking about the appearance of the 《Dual Blades》 Unique Skill.

Having returned to our home through the front door like decent people this time, we both pitched in to get some tea ready, before heading to the large table in the living room and sitting down beside it. Having taken some of the aromatic milk tea into her mouth, Asuna let out a deep sigh, before muttering the following.

"……Who would have thought that your Dual Blades skill would be related to Mahokl-san running away, Kirito-kun……"

"Hmmh……That definitely is what Taikoku claimed, but……"

Responding with a groan, I reached out for the plate on the table with my hand. The cookies hand-made by Asuna were truly to my liking: they were crunchy and easy-to-chew, their sweetness was kept in moderation, and they were rich in aroma from the butter, yet not even eating two of them in a row helped cheer me up.

"……I can't even begin to imagine how the Dual Blades skill ties into the case with Mahokl. Even Taikoku himself doesn't seem to have an answer for that…… The entire rationale behind his conclusion was just that Mahokl started acting weird after rumours about Dual Blades spread around, right……?"

When I mentioned this in an inarticulate manner, Asuna took on a brooding expression herself.

Having lost the Duel against me, the staff-wielder Taikoku mentioned the following reasons why he……or rather 《they》 were looking for Mahokl.

First and foremost was simply because they were worried. Although Asuna and I had without a shadow of a doubt believed that Mahokl the Woodcrafter was purely an artisan player, she was in fact the leader of the Critical Fundamentalists group, the 《Kaishindou》 as they called themselves, that's been around in Aincrad from time immemorial and her members were worried that she could have possibly got herself into danger, even if she vanished of her own accord. Although the 《Laughing Coffin》 PK group had been vanquished three months ago, there could be some remnants hiding out somewhere, similarly to Kuradeel, the two-handed-sword-wielder who had tried to kill me the other day; their head honcho ＰｏＨ was unaccounted for either. The Critlers were merely a bunch of people researching the system and techniques behind True Critical Hits, rather than a battle-focused group, thus I could more or less understand the anxiety Taikoku felt about his leader's safety.

While the second reason was the recipe for a ballista that Mahokl had discovered before she went missing.

As Taikoku claimed, no matter how much he and the other executives tried to persuade, or perhaps beg, her into crafting an actual ballista, she stubbornly refused to do so. Apparently, Mahokl had claimed that 'the pursuit of Criticals has no need for projectile weapons', but Taikoku and the others apparently never found it in themselves to give up on the idea. After all, if the ballista did actually work as intended, it would become possible for them to engage in some highly-efficient levelling on some farming spot on the front lines, even if the Critlers lacked actual battle experience, which would allow them to greatly increase their own stats. It's all but certain that your ＡＧＩ value was tied to the rate of triggering Criticals, thus I can't say I don't understand how they feel.

That is to say, Taikoku and the others are looking for Mahokl both out of a virtuous wish for the safety of their leader, and a greedy desire for the benefits of having a ballista. Seeing as Taikoku was that honest about their desires, he probably isn't a bad guy by any means, but we couldn't exactly tell him Mahokl's whereabouts after hearing all of that after all.

"……I wonder, why exactly did Taikoku-san demand not only the whereabouts of Mahokl-san, but the unlock conditions for the Dual Blades skill too."

At Asuna's words, I stopped my train of thought and looked up to her.

"Huh……? Wasn't that because Mahokl started acting weird after info on the Dual Blades made the rounds? He probably thought that the Dual Blades skill was somehow tied to her disappearance."

"Though, couldn't he have just put off questioning why she had disappeared till after he got intel on Mahokl-san's whereabouts from us?"

"Hmmh, well, you do have a point there……"

Nodding, I tossed a third cookie into my mouth. After getting my fill of enjoying the harmony between it and the milk tea for a few moments, I made a proposal to my partner.

"……How's about we pay Zumfut another visit tomorrow……?"

At that point, Asuna stared at my face intently, before blinking once and giving a smile.

"Yeah, let's do so."

"In that case, we've gotta hurry up and head to bed for the night."

Perhaps because I had gone into a serious battle for the first time in a long while now, the instant I made that statement, I felt my eyelids getting awfully heavy and let out a big yawn. Seeing as this world faithfully reproduced the tears that come after a yawn, by the time I stopped blinking to get rid of them, I noticed that Asuna herself had her hand beside her mouth before me, letting out a mild "Fuwa……" yawn. Seeing how truly lovely that action looked, I shook off my drowsiness and stood, before going around the table.

As Asuna tilted her head, as if nonverbally conveying a 'what's the matter?', I placed my arms on her back and beneath her legs, before lifting her up. "H-hey……", cried out my esteemed young wife as I carried her to the bedroom, where I gently laid her down on the bed, before giving her a big old hug.

Despite her bewilderment at first, Asuna herself wrapped her arms around my head right away. Her slender, soft hand gently stroked through my hair.

Back when we had just moved into this log house——though it's only been but three days since then——I always found myself swept away by some hard-to-resist urges right after becoming this intimate with her, which led to certain brazen deeds, but strangely, all I felt right now was a deep peace of mind. As a certain emotion welled up from deep, deep in my heart, I simply converted it into sounds right away.

"Asuna……I love you."

At my words that, strangely considering they were coming from me, contained no pretense, Asuna stopped stroking my hair and likewise responded in a quiet voice.

"I love you too, Kirito-kun."

"……I should have…… told you this back then much sooner, or so I think sometimes……"

As I muttered this with my face buried in Asuna's neck, Asuna's hands once again got back to work stroking my head.

"Are you regretting what you had left unsaid……?"

When she questioned me about that in a whisper, I thought for a moment, before answering her.

"Not exactly regret, I guess. I do not think that the road we've walked along together…… or the time we spent together was a mistake per se. It's just that I sometimes simply wonder what would have happened had I confessed to you back when we had maintained our temporary duo on the lower floors."

"Hmmh……"

After she gave a sigh as if having put some thought to the idea, I felt Asuna smiling as she said the following.

"……I was quite the stubborn girl back then, so I'm not sure if I'd have given you an ＯＫ at the time, you know?"

"Wha……really?"

"In that case, what would you yourself have done had I confessed to you then?"

"Well, I would have of course……"

After getting that much out of my mouth, I simulated my full-swing middle-school-second-grader mindset from back then, letting out a strained laugh involuntarily.

"Actually, I can't say for sure either, huh. I might have just run away or put up a brave front after falling into panic."

"See what I mean."

After giving Asuna another firm embrace as she gave off a big sis vibe for some reason, I pulled myself apart from her just a bit to stare at the lovely face right next to me.

"……Considering that, the fact that I'm doing this with you right now seems like a miracle, even if it took us two years, Asuna."

"Mm-hmm, I too……"

Asuna was about to say something as I sealed her lips with my own. Once the long, long kiss came to an end, her muscles relaxed and I took over stroking her head myself.

We must have spent about three minutes like this. By the time I noticed, my partner had already started letting out faint sleep breaths in my arms. Pulling up the blanket beside our feet up to the tip of our shoulders, I myself closed my eyes in peace.





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; there was no other way to reach the northern segment of the floor other than going through here. There was a small village right next to a lake, where you could gobble down some delicious fish dishes, but we 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#(Ji Indorento Torento)》.

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. 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 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 that were beaten long ago. 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 talking to 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. 'Okay, now those are definitely the eyes of the Critlers' head honcho', 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 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……"

"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?"

At that point, the petite woodcrafter groaned out a "Mn!!", before 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. Despite turning around, my view was blocked by the twists and turns of the wall of rock, preventing me from seeing the woodcrafter anymore.

Finding ourselves holding hands, we began walking towards the exit of the gorge.

(The End)

Afterword

Finally…… it is finally over…… Though be that as it may, I do feel like some mysteries are left unsolved. If possible, I would like to write in an epilogue for the compilation. I plan to publish said compilation during the next COMITIA. For now, I would like to thank you all for keeping me company on this story that spans a whole fourteen chapters!



Sword Art Online Material Edition 27
Publisher: WordGear
Date of publishing: 2018-05-05
Supervisor: Kunori Fumio
Printing: Ryokuyou

Sugary Days 13

Index

Epilogue