[Progressive manga] Canon of the Golden Rule - Chapter 2

Welp, I just got back from my one week vacation at the beach. There was so much going on that I didn't really have the time (or the mood/energy) to work on any translations or summaries, but I at least got some much-needed rest (and caught up a bit on my reading backlog) for once. I'm probably still going to need a couple of days to get back into the rhythm, but since this week we're getting a new Canon chapter, the godly art will get me back into shape in no time. On that note, luckily, we did have Canon manga chapter 2 practically ready for release before I even went on my vacation, so I have something to commemorate my return to the daily routine!

Chapter 2 covers Asuna and Kirito's investigation of Pithagrus's second home up to the part where they get some unexpected visitors. Unlike chapter 1, the manga no longer skips any scenes, though it does still take some creative liberties with the order of events (I've made a detailed adaptation note list below, for those interested in a comparison).

Next week, I'm planning to release a V24 summary update (chapters 3 and 4). The summary is already done beforehand, I just need to get around to proofreading it.

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.

P.S. Yay, no gigantic exposition dumps in this chapter! This chapter was much more pleasant to work on...

-Gsimenas

Credits

Raws: Official SAOP Canon Twitter Account
Translation: Gsimenas
Editing: Gsimenas
Redrawing: Nguyên Milk
Typesetting: Nguyên Milk
Quality Assurance: Mttblue2

Canon #002

Links for the translation files:

• PDF
• Zip Download

Canon #001

Index

Canon #003

Translation (choice/nuance) comments:

• Page 1, 17: There are multiple words for ghosts in Japanese. The best equivalent for the English word "ghost" would be 幽霊 (yuurei). An alternative is the phrase obake (オバケ, originates from お化け), which is a more general expression that literally implies anything that involves a transformation and can be used to refer to anything from ghosts to monsters and goblins (anything that can give you a fright, basically). Both words are used in the chapter, so it would be hard to distinguish between them if I translated both as "ghost". Since obake is basically used as a colloquial word for "ghost", I decided to translate it as "spook", a colloquial word for "ghost" in English.
• Page 11, 16, 17: The word "ghost" in these instances accounts for the characters using 幽霊 (yuurei), rather than obake in the original text. The word also had "Astral-types" (アストラル系) as Furigana on page 11.
• Page 17: The word "jackpot" was emphasised with boutens (dots above or beside Japanese characters that are used to emphasise a word or phrase). This was accounted for bolding the word in the English translation.
• Page 19: The word "wraith" is レイス (reisu), the Japanese pronunciation of the English word.
• Page 25: The word "pops" was in English in capitalised letters (ＰＯＰ) in the original text.
• Page 30: "Dear Swordsmen" was 剣士どの (Kenshi-dono) in the original text. Also, Cylon is speaking in a rather polite tone, so I made his lines a tad more polite/humble.

Adaptation notes:

• The manga is from Asuna's point of view, rather than Kirito's.
• The manga skipped the scene where Asuna and Kirito had to enter a six number code (consisting of the first three perfect numbers, which was meant to be a reference to Pythagoras) on a dial to unlock the door to the haunted mansion.
• In the novel, Kirito shared more spoilers about the quest with Asuna while they were exploring the mansion.
• Asuna wasn't so scared about investigating the mansion in the novel at first, since she only learnt that there would be ghosts inside when Kirito casually mentioned them during their conversation. It still took a few seconds for that fact to sink in for Asuna and she did make cling to Kirito to have him go first afterwards, though.
• The scene of Asuna and Kirito investigating the first room and accidentally breaking furniture and then teasing each other about it like elementary schoolers was skipped.
• In the novel, Asuna and Kirito didn't find anything in the first room and only encountered ghosts in the second room.
• The first two ghosts appeared in tandem in the novel. They didn't sneak up on Asuna.
• In the novel, the first two wraiths were identified as Annoying Wraiths before the battle. Kirito also warned Asuna about the fact that the wraiths had debuffs beforehand.
• The manga didn't go into details about the available options to increase damage against Astral-type monsters. Also, both Asuna and Kirito fought the wraiths with lanterns in hand, since illumination makes it easier to damage Astrals.
• Kirito wasn't distracted by Asuna's battle in the novel.
• The manga didn't explain that Kirito had originally assumed that Accuracy aim-correction only occurs when the player intentionally targets a weak point.
• Kirito advised Asuna to switch to a slashing skill (and Asuna had just happened to have unlocked Folium, which fit the bill) before indicating which part of the wraith to target, since the regular thrust skills from the Rapier tree were the least effective attacks against Astrals. In the manga, she just comes up with it on her own.
• Kirito undid Asuna's Chillness with the blanket method before facing the boss wraith in the novel.
• In the novel, Kirito explained that the debuff would expire in around five minutes, so he was about to say that she should just tough it out, but then he took pity at her shivering and paleness and decided to test out the blanket method.
• The manga didn't mention that Kirito had used the blanket method with a super-macho guy in the beta.
• In the novel, Asuna and Kirito had to go through all six rooms (and four more Annoying Wraiths) in the mansion, before they found the boss wraith and the key at the very last room.
• In the novel, Asuna first used five jabs to force the Resentful Wraith to float up in a cramped room before initiating Shooting Star. The novel also mentioned that the Resentful Wraith had a plethora of debuffs in its disposal.
• The room with the Resentful Wraith had bones lying around, the remains of a henchman Cylon had sent to find the cube before Asuna and Kirito who fell victim to the wraiths before he could report back.
• In the novel, there was a scene about Asuna and Kirito talking about ghosts being drawn to abandoned houses. In that conversation, Asuna made a remark about always keeping her player home clean if she ever buys one, but unintentionally implied that Kirito would be living there too.
• Asuna was the one to point out that it was getting late in the novel.
• In the novel, Cylon and his goon only appeared when Asuna and Kirito were near the exit. Also, Kirito warned Asuna in advance that something would happen, though he left out the details to not ruin the surprise.