Part5

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

Since I got done with my last test before Easter, it's about time to celebrate! And what better way to celebrate than with a translation release? As you may have guessed from the previous chapter, we'll be visiting the SAO server in this one. Next chapter will be the last (and most significant/emotional) one and will thus bring a close to Eiji's (and one of the Yunas') story.

Italic text is Engrish (English written in katakana) or Eiji's in-game name, because it's hard to tell the difference in translated text otherwise and there's ONE instance in this chapter where his real name (i.e. in kanji) was used for whatever reason.

Any feedback is appreciated.

-Gsimenas

CreditsRaws:: Mttblue2

Translation: Gsimenas

Editing: Pryun

5

Minato Ward, Motoakasaka, Block One

(1).

The eight-storey

building slightly to the north of Aoyama Street was once the headquarters of

Argus.

Having ridden the subway Chiyoda Line and Ginza Line to arrive here from Yoyogi,

Eiji and I——we hadn't spoken to each other at all on the train——looked up at the black-

tiled building without windows in silence for a few moments. I've laid my eyes on this building through pictures and videos numerous times, but I've never visited it directly till today.

The reason why

Argus, a company that had been called a puny

maker till the 2010s, grew so much that it was able to build an office for themselves in such a super prime district, was because they had the superhuman genius that was Kayaba Akihiko with them. The

game titles for the

consoles and PC that he developed sold over twenty million copies worldwide in total, earning

Argus an enormous profit. Using those funds, Kayaba developed the

NerveGear and SAO, which led to the incident that plunged the company in its entirety to the bottom of hell.

There were no lights in the pitch black

building, while some

grill shutters were lowered on the front

entrance. There was a side entrance on the left side, but there were placards on the

glass and it seemed unlikely that the door could be used.

"……Hey, ya know."

I called out in a whisper to

Eiji, standing at the boundary of the sidewalk and the

building grounds.

"What I wanted to know is the means to

access the server; that doesn't mean I wanted you to accompany me to the

server itself……"

"Hmph, we've come here specifically because there are no such means. I thought I told you that the OS

server is connected to the SAO

server through a private line."

"B-but, well, how about the lab at the institute or something?……"

As I persisted,

Eiji went silent for a moment, before quickly shaking his head.

"Indeed, the lab at Touto Tech has a terminal for controlling White Yuna and Black Yuna. But it's impossible to access the SAO

server through that

machine. You need to open up a

gate for

FullDive use from the

server side."

"But I……"

'

Dived into the SAO

server from the New National Stadium', I attempted to say but stopped midway. In that instance, there was no doubt that White Yuna opened up the

gate for us from inside the

server. And she was no longer with us.

Having given me a sharp glance as I sank into silence, Eiji took out a portable device from the

pocket of his blue

track jacket. He launched some sort of

app, before muttering.

"I think I should be able to open the side entrance and

server room doors with my ID. However, there are remote surveillance

cameras inside. If they spot something, the guard will be after us in no time."

"……I see……"

Nodding, I took out the

Augma from my

bag. The reason I had once again taken it off after using it to pay using

points at the

family restaurant was because I suspected that I'd have the urge to launch OS and go

item hunting.

The moment the virtual

desktop booted up, "Yui, you there?", I called out. In no time, white light gathered in the centre of my vision, forming a small fairy.

Being based on the 《SAO

care support AI》 that

Eiji spoke of a while ago, Yui spent each day persistently improving her abilities; right now, I am unable to even imagine where her limits lay.

This

super AI, 'Fuwawaa', gave a big yawn before looking up at me, a cheerful smile appearing on her face.

『Good morning, Papa!』

Turning my back to

Eiji as he gave me a suspicious expression, I greeted her in a whisper.

"M-morning, Yui. Though it's already evening……"

『In the business world, 《Good morning》 is a greeting used all day long!』

I was curious about what business she had in mind, but I didn't have the time to get sidetracked right now.

"Hey, Yui. I'd like to infiltrate, I mean, pay a visit to that

building right now, so I was wondering if you could do something about the surveillance

cameras for a bit……"

Seemingly having understood my extremely vague, roundabout phrasing in an instant, Yui looked up at the black

building.

"Okay, piece of cake! …… Though, oh my, isn't that

building the former main office for

Argus."

"Yeah, umm, it is."

"And what about the person behind you, Papa……"

As Yui tilted her head, I considered how I should explain this, but this would by no means end with just a word or two.

Also, the

Augma doesn't have any

cameras and instead makes use of an advanced tech that converts data in

real time from the

user's

eyeball sensor, that is, the view that the user's eyeballs perceive, into visuals that can be processed by the

system. Meaning that Yui should only be able to see what I myself am looking at, so how is she able to perceive

Eiji's standing behind me?

Deciding to ask her about this secret after we got back home, I limited the explanation to the bare minimum.

"Well, we kinda went with the flow and decided to enter this

building together…… he has an ID that grants access to it."

『There is no danger involved, right?』

"Sure, nothing dangerous either legally or physically…… or so I expect. Can you do something about the

cameras?

『Yes, I have already done something about them.』

"Wha?"

『I have ensured that all the surveillance

cameras in the

building will play a five minute-long

looped recording. But the sun is setting, thus someone could notice that the angle of the sun remains unchanged.』

"E……. eh, isn't that a bit too much to ask of a person…… Thanks, Yui, I'll be sure to properly explain this in detail later on."

『That is a promise! Also, no keeping secrets from Mama, you hear!』

"Of course, I'll inform Asuna about this too."

Having finished the conversation in whispers, I quickly turned around.

Eiji's expression was full of suspicion, but as someone who had been working with Black Yuna, he should be able to deduce something as trivial as the fact that I was speaking to an AI.

"

Eiji, seems like we'll be able to get around the

cameras. I'll leave the

door to you."

"……I've just been released, you know, so I'll run away without you if a guard comes."

For a second, I hesitated whether I should say something like, "While I won't be abandoning you", in response, but gave a short answer in the end.

"Gotcha…… Let's go."

Having given each other a slight nod, we looked to the left and right of the road, before stepping onto the

building grounds. Here and there, some passers-by could be seen, but it didn't seem like they were paying any attention to us.

Having approached the side entrance,

Eiji held his device over the verification system. Without giving me any time to feel worried, I heard the system making a 'pipi' sound, followed by a clank as the door unlocked, thus we promptly opened the

glass door and entered.

At that moment, the surveillance

camera on the ceiling of the dark passage suddenly looked down at us. Its red

indicator seemed to be staring at us.

Turning around,

Eiji,

"Oi, are you sure we're okay here?"

The moment he whispered that, Yui, who was standing on my shoulder, seemingly took offense and

jumped to face him.

『Please inform this person that we are a hundrecent okay!』

"……We're a hundrecent okay."

It wasn't clear how much

Eiji trusted my response, but there was no turning back after coming this far. Pushing him by the back of his

track jacket, I made him go forward.

At the end of the short passage lay the

entrance hall; the room was dyed purple by the remaining rays of sunlight coming through the front

grill shutters. We'd be visible from the road in front of the building, thus we quickly crossed the room and plunged into the

elevator hall.

Among the three of them, only one was still powered. Upon

Eiji pressing the 'down'

button, the door instantly opened.

What surprised me was the fact that the elevator had

buttons for six underground floors in addition to eight above-ground floors.

Eiji didn't hesitate to press the

button for the fifth underground floor. According to the information

plate on the wall, B1 through B3 were the parking lot, B4 was the

data centre, B5 was the

server room, and B6 was the machinery room.

"……Wouldn't you normally put the

data centre and

server rooms on the upper floors? It would be bad if they got flooded due to a downpour."

As I asked this, to my surprise,

Eiji didn't give his typical "Hmph", but instead formed a faint smile. However, this shred of a smile vanished instantly, as he responded bluntly.

"When I came here for the first time, I asked the professor the exact same question. I'm told there's an underground water cooling

system on the fourth and fifth underground floors that is cooling down the

server. Also, while the underground floors are susceptible to flooding, they're resistant to earthquakes."

"…………I see……"

It was unclear whether it was Kayaba Akihiko's

idea to set up the

server underground, but come to think of it, Aincrad's

system console was also located beneath the Town of Beginnings. Yui, who was about to be deleted at that location, was now sitting on my left shoulder, swaying her feet to and fro.

Upon leaving the

elevator, I saw a passageway lit only by emergency lights stretching on straight forward. It was so dark that I couldn't see the floor, but

Eiji proceeded without any hesitation.

There was a verification system beside the

sliding door at the end of the passageway as well; this time, when

Eiji held his portable device out, it took a bit of time before it opened. The inside was completely pitch dark, while a chilly and dry air flowed out of it.

As I felt an indescribable pressure causing me to hesitate stepping forward, this time it was

Eiji's turn to push me in the back.

"Hurry up and get inside."

"Ah…...yeah."

When I somehow managed to step forward, the

sliding door closed behind me.

Pitch darkness. But in the depths of the room, multiple red and blue lights continued blinking. I could faintly hear the roar of an exhaust

fan.

The moment I took one step closer as if drawn in, a white light dispelled the darkness.

Eiji had pressed the light

switch.

My eyes, half-closed for a moment, opened wide.

Inside the approximately ten jō-sized space, there was another room with

glass walls. Enshrined in the middle of it was a jet black

mainframe that was far bigger than me.

Inside the two

front panels with sculpture-like figures, numerous

indicators switched on and off restlessly. On the silver

plate, attached to the

panel on the right, were three characters: SAO.

"So this……is the SAO

server……"

When I muttered this, Yui, sitting on my shoulder, spoke out in an unsurprisingly nervous voice.

『Inside, Aincrad still exists even now, I see……』

Nodding in silence, I turned around and looked at

Eiji.

"Now that we're here…… we can

log in to SAO, right?"

"Yeah…… There's an

access point that you can only use in this

server room. No other signals reach here, so you should be able to pick it up automatically."

Once he gave this answer,

Eiji took out a worn-out

AmuSphere from the boxes piled up in a disorderly manner beside the

glass partition. Before I could say a thing, he quickly equipped it on his head.

"Naturally, I'm going too."

Now that he declared that, I couldn't just ask him to wait here. Besides, if he's using an

AmuSphere, at least there shouldn't be any danger to his real body.

"……Gotcha."

Once I also firmly attached my

Augma to my head, I looked for a place suitable for a

FullDive. However, of course, I couldn't find a

bed,

mattress, or anything of the sort.

On the other hand,

Eiji sat down on the floor without any hesitation and leaned his back against the

glass wall. I sat down in silence beside him, assuming the same posture.

Exchanging glances, we matched our

timing. We both inhaled, gathered some air, and shouted at the same time.

""

Link start!!""

The

Augma, whose

FullDive function White Yuna had

unlocked during the

stadium battle nine days ago, detached my consciousness from my body, making it soar through a rainbow space.

The sound of the wind.

Chilly air was stroking my cheeks. I felt the fragrance of flowers. And the sound of water flowing.

The moment I suddenly opened my eyes, a sky dyed a red as deep as blood due to the setting sun expanded as far as I could see.

The sky——

Yet, that was impossible. There was no sky in Aincrad. Lying on the stone paving, what I saw should have been the bottom of the floor above——a roof made from stone and iron. In that case, was this not Aincrad? Did I end up

Diving into some other world……?

As my gaze remained fixated on the endless evening sky, my thoughts of disbelief were cleared away when a familiar voice suddenly reached my ears.

"Papa, please wake up!"

With that, my ability to think finally returned and I quickly sprang up. First, I looked over my body and hands, noticing a black

leather coat with black fingerless

gloves, as well as a metal

plate on my chest. There was no doubt about it—— this was me in SAO, the avatar of the 《Black Swordsman》 Kirito. When I moved my hands around my back just to be sure, the hilts of my two beloved swords touched my palms as if clinging to them.

The moment I lowered my hands, stood up, and turned around, it came into my view. Standing about two

metres away was Yui, the girl-in-a-white-

one-piece-dress

version, rather than her

pixie form from ALO. The white stone-paved pathway extended straight ahead, with flower beds filled with multicoloured flowers in full bloom to the left and right.

And, towering over the end of the pathway, stood a magnificent and dignified deep crimson palace.

"The Ruby Palace…………"

Muttering, I took several steps forward, before Yui's black hair, swayed by the wind, came into my right hand. Yui raised her left hand and grasped my

coat.

"So, this is Aincrad's hundredth floor, huh……"

When I spoke out again, Yui nodded.

Strictly speaking, this was the third time I've come here. However, in the first instance, I was led here by White Yuna in a state of not being able to tell whether I was in a dream or reality, thus my memories of that time aren't clear even now. The second time, I appeared in the sky above the palace and descended straight inside.

So, this would be the first time I got to gaze thoroughly at the Ruby Palace.

If I hadn't fought Heathcliff…… Kayaba Akihiko on the seventy-fifth floor, the conquest of the floating castle would have probably continued until we reached this palace with our own feet one day. Or perhaps, we would have been defeated on some floor without being able to accomplish this goal……

"……Is the

last boss still inside……"

In response to my half-soliloquous utterance, Yui answered in a whisper.

"No…… the

server appears to still be in the

status where the

last boss…… 《

An Incarnation of the Radius》 has been defeated by Papa and the others."

"That so…… An MMO has no credit rolls or a second world, huh……"

In that case, at this moment and onwards, the palace would probably continue towering on the hundredth floor without any inhabitants. Having somehow suppressed the strange, strong emotions overflowing me, I looked around my surroundings.

And so, I finally realised that

Eiji was nowhere to be found.

"Huh……where's

Eiji……?"

"The only ones to appear at these coordinates are Papa and me, you know?"

Yui looked up at me, her lovely eyes a faint light of surprise.

"……By any chance, did you not have a plan on regrouping prepared beforehand?"

"……N-no. I was sure we'd appear at the same place……"

I mumbled some excuse, but if you think about it, there's no way that would have happened. In MMORPGs, 《appearing at the place you logged out last time》 is part of the basics; I

logged out right after defeating the

last boss nine days ago, thus I appeared on the hundredth floor——but outside rather than inside the

dungeon.

In that case,

Eiji too should have appeared at the place he

logged out the last time…… the place he had been at when SAO was

cleared one and a half years ago. Most likely, that place was the vast Town of Beginnings… some inn within that town.

"……As if I can find you……"

I moaned, while Yui once again gave a stunned expression; at that moment.

A tiny insight went through my consciousness.

There's no way that guy——

Eiji would patiently wait for me at the Town of Beginnings. He was sure to go out on the search himself. Not for me, but for her…… for Yuna.

"Let's go, Yui!"

Shouting this, I grasped Yui's hand and began running in the opposite direction of the Ruby Palace, towards the Teleport Gate at the southern edge.

Notes1.

^ Japanese addresses use a block-based system, rather than a street-based system that is more common in a lot of places in the West (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJIRIN3WP_M for more info).