Credits

Raws: Celest
Translation: Gsimenas
Editing: Gsimenas, emil
Proofreading: JengKay

Translation (choice/nuance) comments:

• Lipia uses a fancy/archaic way to introduce herself ([name]と申す者). To account for this, I used “one who is known as”, where “one” is a gender-indetermined pronoun that basically means “person”.
• Alice’s and Lipia’s dialogue lines with the phrase “the heavens” were paired in the original text. Alice’s dialogue began with the phrase tenka (天下), while Lipia’s began with tenjou (天上). The two phrases literally mean “below sky/heaven” and “above sky/heaven” respectively, but in a practical sense, tenka means “the (whole mortal) world”, while tenjou means “the heavens” (i.e. realm of gods). To maintain this nuance, I translated the common denominator 天 as “the heavens” in the sense of being a boundary between the mortal and celestial realms.
• The Dark Territory in Underworld has two names. One is in katakana English (i.e. ダークテリトリー), the other is in actual Japanese (暗黒界, literally “darkness world/realm”). For better distinction between the two names, I translate 暗黒界 as “The Land of Darkness”.
• Nearly all instances of the word “dragon” use the word 飛竜 (hiryuu, “flying dragon”) in the original text. I omitted the “flying” part because a non-flying dragon would just be a lizard or something in the West. And the anime sure portrays the UW dragons as regular Westernish dragons, rather than a wyvern or something, so I’m not sure what the “flying” bit is supposed to achieve.
• In the instance where Kirito asks about dragon food, he uses polite speech, but broken grammar. Under standard grammar, the question would have been “kore wa nandesu ka” (this is what), but Kirito’s sentence is “nandesu ka, kore” (what this?), which effectively splits the sentence into two incomplete ones to have the “what” at the beginning of the sentence like in Western languages, rather than at the end of the sentence as is standard in Japanese. To account for this, we made also made the sentence into two clauses, though separated with an elipses rather than a comma.
• “Biscuit” is used in the British sense of the word. Apparently, Japanese have their own distinction between what’s referred to as a “biscuit” and what’s a “cookie”.
• In the “thankies” instance, Kirito was using “thank you” (sankyuu) in English, before correcting himself to Japanese, since Underworlders don’t use Engrish slang.
• Miokake is written as 澪懸 (Waterway splasher?). It follows the Human Empire naming standard of noun + verb stem for dragons.
• There are two words for elements: エレメント (eremento) and 素 (so)/素因 (soin). The former is marked in itallics to distinguish it as an English word. Generally, the English word is only used in the commands themselves, while regular references to the elements use proper Japanese terms.
• Japanese uses different terms to describe gender/sex in animals. English doesn’t have this nuance, using the same word for both male/female humans and animals. But to account for this difference, I chose to translate 雄 (male animal) as he-dragon and 雌 (female animal) as she-dragon.
• Corsche speaks in humble (kenjougo) tone, so I tried making her sound more (excessively) formal and polite.
• New character names: Hatoa is just a regular old romanisation of the original ハトア, because I couldn’t come up with anything fancy for that; Vizec was ビセク (Biseku) in the original text and this spelling was just the first thing that came to my mind.
• I decided to omit/localise honorifics used with titles (e.g., Supreme Priest-san and Supreme Priest-sama), unless the titles were used to call out to the person themselves, because it doesn’t sound awfully good when the person is not part of the conversation themselves. Though I couldn’t come up with how to deal with -dono in that case, so I left it as is.
• The word “trolley” was “wagon” (ワゴン) in the original text. Based on the context, it’s referring to something like this , but the word “wagon” gives me the impression of train wagons, so I changed it to “trolley” for more clarity.
• The word “skinship” refers to hanging out naked at a public bath in this case. The original term was hadaka no tsukiai (裸の付き合い), which literally means “socialising in the nude”, or idiomatically means “a completely honest relationship”, seeing as you can’t really hide anything when you’re naked. Seeing as Japanese have an obsession with baths, hanging out naked in a bath is considered a way to deepen the bonds of friendship. We went for “skinship” to avoid unwanted implications. While that word technically implies more physical intimacy than we actually get here, you wouldn’t know that without looking up a dictionary, so we deemed it to be safer than directly referncing nudeness!
• The phrase “with such great scenery” was just “in such a location” (kono location de) in the original text. I decided to be a bit loose with the translation, as the phrase didn’t really work in actual English all that well.
• Aside from instances where actual system commands are recited, Sacred Arts elements are almost always referred to with Japanese expressions (kanji), rather than English words. Since the Japanese kanji terms aren’t as sophisticated as the English variants, I translated the element names literally when they are mentioned in actual Japanese. For example, the “cryogenic” element is called the “freezing element” (凍素) outside of commands.
• The chef speaks in a sort-of colloquial old-man style (not saturated with the oldness though), so I tried to make his language sound more colloquial with various non-standard spelling variants and colloquial abbreviations.
• The trio of cleaners use humble speech when talking to Eugeo and Kirito. As such, I added some excessively polite constructs and phrasings into their lines. On the other hand, they go casual when speaking to each other, so I made those lines more casual in turn.
• When honorifics go with names, I left them as is. However, I localised honorifics that went with titles. “Esteemed” is a localisation for “-sama” after a title.
• Chalotte refers to herself using the pronoun “watashi”, but the pronoun is written in katakana, rather than kanji or hiragana. This usually implies a sense of unnaturalness. Such instances are indicated in Courier font, just like with other instances of Japanese words in katakana. However, Japanese is known for NOT having pronouns in most of its sentences, so only the instances where she actually uses a pronoun will be indicated in this font.
• The word “supah” was “meccha” (めっちゃ) in the original text. It’s a slang word that emphasises whatever comes after it, like adding “super” to some adjective in English. But since slang doesn’t really work in Underworld, I had to make it more obvious that Kirito was speaking jargon by going with a slangy spelling of the word “super”.
• “swiveling my head around in all directions in utter confusion” - the original phrase was 何だ何だと周囲を見回してから, which would literally mean “looking around in a ‘what the, what the’ manner”. Rephrased it to sound more natural.
• The word for hawk in Japanese (鷹) can either mean hawk or falcon. Since V12 didn’t make mention of this and so I had no references for what Yen Press would pick, I just went with one option at random.
• I translated instances of Hawk-Helmet-san as Mr. Hawk-Helmet, as -san is used to imply that “Hawk-Helmet” is referring to a person, rather than a notion of respect.
• Since Kirito is unaware of Fanatio’s gender in this universe yet and the narration is from his perspective, I treated Fanatio as a guy until revealed otherwise, since English requires an explicit reference to gender with their pronouns.
• “There was no one at the table with any particular reaction to the phrase […]” - the word “phrase” was actually “word” in Ingurisshu in the original text, but I had to change this, since it’s actually two words in English, while Japanese was referring to it specifically as a single word.
• “hurdles…… I mean, obstacles” - Kirito uses Ingurisshu at first, then changes it to actual Japanese so Eugeo would understand what he’s trying to say there.

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)
• Comic sans indicates emphasis added by myself when I needed to stress something to get the meaning across properly.
• 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.

If We Could Walk Together

1

“I am the eleventh-ranked Dark Knight, one who is known as Lipia Zancale! I have come to this land bearing a decree from my lord! I would like to seek an audience with the Commander of the Integrity Knights!”

The instant the female knight in jet black armour, who had flown in from the Dark Territory, named herself as such, the golden Integrity Knight facing her on the other side of the Great Eastern Gate, Alice Synthesis Thirty, slightly bent backwards. She was probably just shocked by the knight’s words, rather than feeling pressured by her; just one look at her reaction was more than enough to figure out that the Dark Knight’s words came as a total surprise to her.

Instantly taking up a stance with her long sword once more, the tip of which shook unsteadily, Alice slightly pulled up the reins of her dragon 《Amayori》, before interrogating the knight without any attempt to hide her hostility.

“Why, the lord of a Dark Knight can be none other than the Dark General! In which case, how do you plan to prove that this decree or what-not that you speak of is not about assassinating His Excellency Bercouli Synthesis One, the great Integrity Knight Commander that heads us Integrity Knights!”

That instant, the Dark Knight named Lipia took her right hand off the helmet she had been carrying in her hands, and swung it to her side in an exaggerated gesture.

“Preposterous! As if our unparalleled Dark General, His Excellency Vixur Ul Shasta, would ever even entertain the thought of engaging in such underhanded schemes!”

“If it means laying claim to the head of His Excellency Bercouli, the man who knows no match under the eyes of the heavens, resorting to whatever foul means in your disposal to achieve your goal fits you denizens of the Land of Darkness like a glove!”

“You dare slight His Excellency Shasta, the master swordsman whose name is lauded even by the Celestial Realm beyond the heavens! We would never stain our hands with an act from the Assassin Guild’s playbook, retract your words!”

As the duo’s exchange… or more like verbal bout, continued to escalate, Eugeo on the seat behind Alice, on the other hand, wound up becoming petrified in a state where his hands were raised up in a half-assed manner after failing to intervene in time. Gazing at this sorry state, I muttered out the following.

“This kinda just……turned into a competition of singing praises for their respective superiors, huh……”

Just then, the Supreme Priest of the Axiom Church Administrator, holding the reins of her dragon 《Yukiori》 right before me, spoke out in a somewhat pouty tone.

“I never once received such glorification from Alice-chan.”

“W……Wait, wait, we don’t have the time for such grievances right now; we’ve gotta do something about this.”

“Well see, Bercouli is under my command, you know? So, isn’t it weird that he’s getting more admiration than me despite this fact?”

“In that case, Eugeo and I will provide you with all the glorification you might ever need later on; now, about these two, if you would not mind……”

“No taking that back now, I’ll hold you to your words. ——Now then, I’ll try doing something about this.”

Upon languidly responding as such, Administrator had the hovering Yukiori slowly move up to be in line with Amayori from the left.

“Alice-chan, that’s enough now.”

That instant, Alice suddenly put their verbal bout to a halt, even lowering the sword she had been pointing at the Dark Knight. Behind her, Eugeo sent a gaze my way, a relieved expression finding its way on his face.

Twisting her upper body to the left atop her saddle, Alice dexterously gave a low bow as she said the following.

“Yes, ma’am……though if I may, Your Holiness, while that woman may be a knight, she is still part of the forces of darkness; we cannot be sure what sort of wickedness she is hiding up her……”

“It’ll be fine. Even if she does have some scheme cooked up in her mind, you and those two apprentices will just protect me, won’t you, Alice-chan?”

“Well, of course, that is a given, but……”

Having responded as such, Alice turned her blue eyes towards me, sitting behind Administrator. After showering me with a chilly gaze, she suddenly turned away.

“……Your Holiness, I cannot speak for the apprentice knights, but I for one shall ensure your protection, even if it costs me my life.”

“Then, would you mind escorting this Dark Knight to the meadow at the entrance to the ravine?”

“……Yes, ma’am.”

The moment she heard the knight’s reply, Administrator had Yukiori turn a hundred and eighty degrees. The rivery valley was a barren land with barely any vegetation growing on it, despite the fact that it was spring right now, though I could see a plateau covered in greenery beyond.

With just a slight wave of the reins in the Administrator’s hands, the pure white dragon began its smooth flight to the plateau beyond.

Having descended to the meadow following Yukiori and Amayori’s lead, the black dragon decelerated with a very unsteady gait, before plopping onto the ground right afterwards.

Jumping out of the saddle, the Dark Knight stroked its head with a worried look, to which the dragon cried out “Kurururu……” in response, though even its voice was terribly feeble.

“Huh……you know, it sure doesn’t seem all that full of energy, even though the Esteemed Supreme Priest should have restored its Life……”

When I muttered this, Administrator said the following with a sigh from the saddle she was still sitting in.

“A simple healing art can only restore Life lost as a result of external wounds. In the event that other causes for Life decline exist, the target of the art will just begin losing its Life again moments later.”

“What would these other causes be……?”

“It’s hungry. Thirty-three, there’s some packed dragon food inside the bag on my right; let that dragon eat it all.”

“Y-yes, ma’am. Though…… if I give all of it away, wouldn’t Yukiori be left without its share?”

“We can just hunt some beasts in the forest over there later on. When I say we, I specifically mean that you’re the one who’s going to do it, of course; including cutting it all up to bite size.”

“……Affirmative.”

I turned around in my seat and opened one of the two large bags behind the saddle. Inside, I found that it was stuffed full with paper packages about the size of two bricks placed in a row, leaving no space unused. When I pulled one of them out and gently took off the paper, I found a dried, yellowish-brown object inside. Although it looked like a biscuit in both colour and texture, a closer look revealed that there were black, red, and brown lumps on its surface.

“What is it… this food, I mean……?”

“Packed dragon food, as I’ve already said before. These are made by adding a variety of things like dried meat, fruit, herbs, and other energising stuff into western empire-produced Dolua wheat flour, before baking it.”

“Uh-huh……”

‘So basically, energy bars for dragons, I guess’, with that thought in mind, I took a whiff of its smell and did indeed feel an aroma similar to roasted nuts. In that case, it should taste——

“Hey, stop right there, dummy!”

As Administrator suddenly turned around to admonish me, I hurriedly pulled my face away from the packed lunch that I had brought closer to myself to gnaw on.

“Uh……so, I am not allowed to do any taste-testing?”

“The tonic effect it has is overly strong; a human would get a stomachache from eating it. I won’t stop you if you don’t mind dealing with one, but know that I won’t be healing you, got it.”

“O-oh, no, I think I shall pass on that.”

Returning the wrapping paper to its original place in a hurry, I was about to pull out the remaining packed lunches from the bag. But since each of them was big, I had my hands already full by the time I reached the halfway point by picking up the fifth one.

“I’ll help out, Kirito.”

Upon turning my gaze to the ground where that voice had come from, I found that Eugeo had alighted from Amayori and was now holding his hands out towards me.

“Thankies……I mean, thanks.”

Once I passed on the first five paper packages to my partner and took out the rest of them, I jumped down onto the ground as well.

As we trotted over to the black dragon that was squatting down a short distance away, the Dark Knight that had been stroking its head suddenly spun around with great force. She had long, mildly wavy, black hair tinged with purple, a dark complexion, and amethyst-coloured eyes. Seeing her up close, she looked like quite a beauty, though I felt nothing but hostility radiating from her piercing gaze.

Before Alice nearby had the chance to say anything, I hurriedly opened my own mouth.

“Umm, this is dragon grub. That guy over there looks pretty peckish, doncha think?”

When I chatted her up in a casual tone, partially because of my nature and partially on purpose, for a moment the knight took on an expression that made it seem I had caught her off guard, before responding in a stinging tone.

“My 《Miokake》 isn’t some weakling dragon to cause a fuss just because of an empty stomach!”

——‘Oh, so both the Human Empire and the Land of Darkness share the same naming rules when it comes to dragons. Wonder why.’

Or so my mind was about to get side-tracked, but since I sensed Alice drawing in a breath behind me, I once again obstructed her with my own reply.

“If your dragon is that important to you, that’s all the more reason not to leave the poor guy starving.”

Just then, the Dark Knight named Lipia spent about two seconds with her mouth zipped shut, before nodding surprisingly meekly.

“You…… have a point. I did force my dragon to exert itself a great deal up to this point, after all…… Excuse me for the trouble, but I shall take up that kind offer after all.”

“There we go.”

After giving Eugeo a wink, I walked over to the black dragon named Miokake. Although the shape of its horns and jaw were a little different from their Human Empire counterparts, the two breeds looked entirely identical in all other aspects. In which case, it probably won’t get sick from eating these huge, Administrator-brand energy bars.

Once we were only forty metres apart, Miokake slightly raised its head, growling out a “Kururu……” as it glared at us with its yellow eyes. Placing her hand on the dragon’s head, Lipia said the following.

“You’ll put yourself in danger if you get any closer. I’ll handle the feed my……”

“Relax, relax.”

Although I don’t mean to imply that I actually have a way with animals, both Eugeo and I have several months of experience tending to horses and cattle at the Walde Farm in Zakkaria on record. Besides, seeing as we’d also be granted dragons of our own when we eventually become high-ranking knights, I’d like to prepare for the occasion by getting some experience on how to handle them beforehand.

“Hey, Kirito, wouldn’t it be best to leave it to her……”

Replying to the worrywart Eugeo with a “Relax, relax” as well, I took one of the packed lunches I had been holding with my left arm, pulled half of it out of the wrapping paper, and took it into my right hand. Holding it out towards the dragon, I slowly moved forward. The moment the distance between me and the deep-growling dragon crossed the two meter line, it happened.

“Guou!”

Letting out a ferocious roar, Miokake moved its head at a speed so great you wouldn’t even expect it to be capable of such a feat with that huge frame of its, in an attempt to bite me. Sharp white fangs closed in on me right before my eyes.

“Nowaa!!”

Letting out a scream, I threw away the four packed lunches I had been holding in my left arm and managed to catch the large upper fangs, which might be as big as thirty centimetres in size measuring to their tips. Although I managed to avoid having my head bitten off, I was unable to absorb the impact in full and found myself at risk of being blown away in an over-the-top manner. However, several steps backward later I somehow managed to hold my ground, perhaps due to Administrator supporting me from the rear with her Incarnation.

“I told you so!”

Shouted Eugeo from behind,

“Enough, Miokake!”

While Lipia Zancale attempted to rein in the dragon’s head. Yet perhaps due to having been pursued by winged monster Minions all the way to the Human Empire, Miokake’s agitation could not be curbed. Still frantically clutching the fangs, I hurled the packed lunch in my right hand straight into the dragon’s mouth.

That instant, Miokake shut its jaws with great force, prompting me to get my left hand out of the way in a haste. ‘Zaku (crunch)’, came a sound of the biscuit-shaped lunch being ground to bits.

“…………Grr……”

As Miokake’s growls got slightly toned down, it began chewing with astounding force.

“E-Eugeo, give me another one!”

As I held out my right hand behind me, Eugeo placed another packed lunch that he had removed from its paper on top of it. Right afterwards, having finished eating the first one in no time at all, Miokake opened its mouth once more, thus I threw in a second one. This one, too, was wiped out in an instant, then a third, and even a fourth wasn’t enough to sate the dragon’s appetite. When Eugeo used up all five of the ones he had, I gathered up the four I had tossed away myself as well, continuing to feed it until its mastication speed finally settled down on the ninth meal.

Taking the tenth packed lunch out of its paper,

“This is the last one.”

Warning it in advance, I put the food in its mouth. As if understanding my words, Miokake thoroughly chewed it over numerous times, before gulping it down. That’s when Alice approached us, undoing the clasp on a thick hide, which had been folded numerous times, that she had probably taken off from Amayori’s saddle.

Upon being unfolded onto the meadow, the object turned out to be the equivalent of a portable bucket, nearly one metre long and wide. Although made out of leather, its inner side was coated in some kind of oil; while this measure would prevent leaking any water poured into it indeed, there were no rivers or ponds in our surroundings in the first place.

“Alice……dono, where do you plan to get any wa-……”

Utterly ignoring the question I had begun asking, the Integrity Knight aimed her right hand towards the bucket.

“System call. Generate aqueous element.”

Five aqua light dots were formed at her fingertips. It was one of the elements, the water element.

“Form element, liquid shape.”

With that additional incantation, the five elements transformed into transparent spheres, from which water gushed out as if someone had just turned on the tap. The Sacred Power accumulated in the meadow was being directly turned into water using this rite.

“You guys help out too.”

At Alice’s orders, Eugeo and I both stuck out our hands in a hurry. I wasn’t all that skilled with water element rites, but not as bad as I was with ice element rites. Managing to somehow create four elements on one hand, I then spawned a current of water.

Having watched us working on the water close-by, even Lipia wedged herself into our group beside Alice, and stuck out her right hand, before repeating the exact same incantation. I’d heard from Cardinal the Sage that Sacred Arts in the Dark Territory are called the Dark Arts, though that’s apparently the only difference between them.

As the four of us continued single-mindedly producing water, it didn’t take even three minutes for the huge bucket to be filled to the brim.

The bucket was one metre in both length and width and about fifteen centimetres deep, thus the water we produced amounted to an entire hundred and fifty litres. I had figured that this would surely be overkill, but when the four of us stepped away from the bucket, Miokake plunged its pointed snout into the water and began chugging down the water vehemently.

Now that I think about it, the dragons in Underworld are bigger than the African elephants in the real world. The elephant apparently drinks up as much as a hundred to two hundred litres of water per day, thus it wouldn’t come as a surprise by any means if a dragon would drink up even more than that.

Just as I had imagined, Miokake needed no more than a measly minute to basically empty out the bucket. Perhaps having finally composed itself after getting its fill of food and water, the dragon nuzzled Lipia’s shoulder with its huge head, “Kururu……”, letting out a fawning purr.

Just then, Alice’s dragon Amayori slowly walked up to it from its rear, reaching out with its long neck. After letting out some “Furururu” purrs in front of Miokake, the dragon nodded its head several times, as if saying hi. The black dragon repeated the same gesture, before the two dragons eventually began nuzzling each other’s hard noses. I had begun panicking that this was a sign of an upcoming scuffle for a moment there, but the two owners were unfazed by what was going on, so I guess this was also just a natural extension of their greeting.

“……Zancale-dono, is Miokake a he-dragon or she-dragon?”

At Alice’s question, Lipia answered in a calm voice, as if having entirely forgotten about their hostility for a moment.

“A he-dragon. What about your dragon?”

“A she-dragon. Her name is Amayori.”

At that point, seemingly having just remembered that she had yet to offer her own name thus far, Alice suddenly straightened up.

“……While I am known as Alice Synthesis Thirty, the third-ranked Integrity Knight.”

Although I had figured Lipia would go “Third-ranked!?” in shock at that, the Dark Knight instead nodded with barely any change in her expression.

“I had figured that this was the case based on your outfit. So you are Alice-dono, the 《Knight of the Fragrant Olive》, huh.”

“……How do you know my name?”

In response to Alice’s surprised question, a faint wry smile found its way on Lipia’s face.

“To us, the Order of Dark Knights, the Order of Integrity Knights in the Human Empire has been an archenemy for centuries. Isn’t it a matter of course that we’d strive to have a grasp of your lineup?”

Hearing this, Alice took on an expression of bewildered caution, as well as a slight bit of shame. The Order of Integrity Knights most likely never put that much effort into investigating the Order of Dark Knights, I assume. With her expression now returned to normal, she let out a slight cough, before saying the following.

“So, what exactly do you seek from this archenemy of yours that you would traverse such a long distance to reach the Human Empire?

“Well, that’s……”

As Lipia hesitated to finish her sentence for a moment, that’s when it happened.

“Are you done with things by now?”

Light footsteps rang out along with these words. Turning around, we found that Administrator, having descended from Yukiori, was approaching us, her pure-white sandals treading on the green grass.

“Yes, ma’am, we have fed all of the packed lunches to it, and even gave it some water to drink.”

The Supreme Priest only gave a short “That so” reply to Eugeo’s response, before giving Lipia a condemning look.

“Dark Knight over yonder, regardless of the circumstances, flying out with a dragon without bringing sufficient feed for it is not a commendable action. These little ones have a fervent sense of loyalty by nature and won’t think anything of pushing themselves to the brink of death if need be, you know?”

“……I won’t make any excuses. You do have my gratitude for both restoring Miokake’s Life with the arts, as well as sparing some packed lunches for it, though……”

Pausing her words at that point, Lipia gave Alice a puzzled look.

“Alice-dono, why are your attendants all acting more haughty than their master, be it the black-haired youngster over there, or this caster lass over here?”

At that point, Alice’s jaw dropped, her cheeks turning pale the moment after. Even I was unable to parse Lipia’s words in my mind straight away, but the moment I discerned that she just spoke of Her Holiness Administrator, the Supreme Priest of the Axiom Church, of all people, as a mere attendant,

“You dol-……”

I blurted this out as I rushed to her at full speed. Placing my right hand on the back of Lipia’s head, I shoved her head down into a low bow.

“W-what are you doing!”

As the Dark Knight struggled, I whispered into her left ear.

“Hurry up and apologise! You’ll be turned into a plate at this rate!”

“Preposterous, what are you talking about! Why would a simple Sacred Arts caster lass require such……”

“Like I’m saying, that’s no mere caster! That person is the Axiom Church’s……”

Suddenly feeling the temperature of my surroundings drop by a mere two degrees, I glanced up without moving my head away from its bowed position.

Although Administrator was gazing at me and Lipia with the same blank look, I could feel as if someone just drew a “Go (menacing) go go go go go” SFX right behind her. The pressure radiating from her was approximately twice as imposing as the time Eugeo and I first had an audience with her at the fiftieth floor of the Central Cathedral.

My right hand felt Lipia’s body flinching.

“…………It can’t be.”

Heaving out such a whisper, she instantly froze up entirely. Having no other choice, I heaved in as much air into my lungs as I could and, after exhaling half of it, sprung my head up and shouted out the following.

“U-umm, Esteemed Supreme Priest! Once we return to the Cathedral, I promise to bake a shortcake with twice the strawberries; I humbly beg for your mercy!”

‘Go go go go go go’……I felt her aura of anger receding just the slightest bit. Eventually, a voice as cold as ice rang out.

“Cheesecake too.”

“…………Excuse me?”

“I want a cheesecake with twice the cream too.”

“…………Y-yes ma’am, with pleasure!!!”

When I replied to her and once again bowed my head low, the aura finally settled down, prompting both me and the Dark Knight Lipia to heave out a long sigh at the same time.


2

By the time we returned back to Central Capital Centoria via using Cardinal’s teleport gate once more, Solus had already begun to set beyond the western empire.

The grooms employed at the Dragon Landing Field on the thirtieth floor of the Central Cathedral were undoubtedly shocked to their core by the turn of events. After all, there had only been two dragons, Yukiori and Amayori, to set off on this journey, yet they had multiplied to three by the time of their return. If that wasn’t enough on its own, the third one was carrying a Dark Knight donned in imposing full-body armour on its back.

Luckily, however, the grooms in leather overalls didn’t devolve into a state of panic when the jet-black Miokake landed, instead escorting it to a free waiting room without issue. Still maintaining her calm on the surface level, Knight Lipia Zancale also jumped off its saddle and said her thanks to the grooms, before approaching Eugeo and me. Looking around her surroundings, she said the following with a sigh.

“I had believed the Obsidia Castle in the Land of Darkness was surely the largest structure in the world…… yet this tower certainly doesn’t fall behind in terms of height. How high is it?”

“It is said to be five hundred mer high……”

Upon Eugeo giving her this answer, Lipia gently shook her head to the sides.

“Oh my…… While Obsidia Castle may be about the same size, it had actually been constructed by carving a natural rocky mountain to serve as a castle, you see. I can’t even begin to imagine what method was used to stack the stones used to construct a building as high as five hundred mer.”

“It is not like they were stacked by the hand of man.”

This response had come from Alice, who had been remunerating Amayori at a waiting room. Walking over to us, she pointed to the walls and pillars in our surroundings with her right hand.

“The marble the Central Cathedral was moulded from had all been erected into place with Sacred Arts by the Supreme Priest. The marble is endowed with limitless Life and priority; not even the greatest storm raging outside the tower can so much as make it budge in the slightest.”

Although Alice’s tone contained a slight note of bragging, Lipia didn’t erupt into a feud with her this time.

“Oh my……using the arts for a structure this enormous, hmm. The Supreme Priest-dono’s power appears to exceed all rumours about her circulating in the Land of Darkness…… yet to think that her appearance was……”

At that point, her words came to a halt as she turned her head towards the interior of the Landing Field. Eugeo and I, as well as Alice, shifted our gazes there as well.

At a waiting booth a short distance away, Administrator herself was brushing the tip of Yukiori’s nose affectionately. Although she was usually clad in an aura so intimidating that just being in her presence would make you feel cold sweat dripping out, this moment with her dragon was the only time she truly did look like a simple girl, as her appearance would suggest.

Cardinal had mentioned that Administrator had once been a regular old girl named Quinella. However, at some point, she had noticed a way to increase her System Control Authority——or if I were to rephrase that, an efficient way to level up that no one before her had ever noticed, which led to changing Quinella’s life forever. In order to sate the infinite craving for control that her Fluctlight had inherited from her parents, Quinella continuously and single-mindedly sought for even greater power, eventually turning into a demi-god who never grew old in the slightest——.

Yet perhaps there was just the slightest sliver of Quinella’s pure-hearted self, back from when she was but a girl, still inside her even now. Could it be that only during times when she was in contact with Yukiori did that part of her come to surface……

Perhaps having sensed our gazes, Administrator glanced at us, returning to her usual transcendent expression as she said the following.

“Dark Knight, I’ve already grown weary today, so I’ll hear you out tomorrow. Kirito, Eugeo, escort her to the floor you live in. If you ask Corsche the cleaner, she should find you a room the knight could use.”

“Y-yes, ma’am!”

Once we shouted out our response in sync, the Supreme Priest placed her hand on Yukiori’s nose one last time, before muttering “Sleep well”——or at least that’s what my hunch thinks she said. Yukiori responded with a quiet “Fururu…….”, left its booth and took off from the northern aperture. It was probably moving back to the dragon stable on the western side of the Cathedral, where it would fall into a long sleep once more in its exclusive bedroom at the depths of the stable.

Having seen off her dragon, Administrator walked over to the stairs leading to the upper floors without sparing a single glance at us anymore——or so I had expected her to do, but going against my expectations, she turned around just before she could disappear out of sight, and gazed at me as she said the following.

“Kirito, Eugeo, be sure to have those cakes you promised done for tomorrow’s discussion. If you were to forget to do so, I’ll turn you into vases.”

“We shall not disappoint you!”

As soon as she heard my reply, this time she really did place her feet on the stairs and rose up to the top with such light steps that you would think gravity didn’t apply to her, before disappearing from our sight.

‘Ha-pheeew’, after heaving out a sigh, I was suddenly struck by a thought: isn’t this the first time the Supreme Priest called us by our actual names, rather than by numbers? However, I had no clue whether being turned into a vase counted as an upgrade or downgrade in status.

Even Lipia Zancale’s unexpected presence on the twenty-eighth floor with us didn’t faze Corsche the cleaner enough to produce even the slightest change in her expression. Upon hearing what was going on, she instantly nodded and answered, “In that case, I do believe Room 2809 would fit your needs.”

Room 2809 was the room opposite to Room 2808, the room that was assigned to Eugeo and me, though its layout was a little different, as it appeared to only have a single bedroom. Lipia’s head wavering the slightest bit while Corsche was providing details on meals and bathing was probably just a sign that the knight had crossed the breaking point for her drowsiness, rather than an issue with her health per se. While we did have a huge stockpile of questions to ask her, starting with ‘what in the world led to her being chased around by Minions’ and ‘what was that order from her lord all about’, it appeared that said questions would have to wait till tomorrow’s tea party.

“……Noted and acknowledged. Thanks, Corsche.”

Having said her thanks as her eyes blinked for the umpteenth time, Lipia also gave Eugeo and me a slight bow.

“I am indebted for your care as well, boys.”

“Oh no…… we haven’t really done much of anything……”

“Why, you have shown care for my Miokake, have you not? You have my gratitude for that.”

The instant she made that statement, Lipia’s upper body swayed. Noticing this, Eugeo spoke out with concern.

“I would recommend giving your body some rest as soon as possible.”

“……Allow me to take you up on that. If you’ll excuse me.”

Once the Dark Knight responded with her eyelids half-closed and entered Room 2809 with unsteady steps, Corsche quietly shut the door. Turning around and looking up at us, she whispered out the following with a serious look.

“This is my first time seeing a personage from the Land of Darkness, yet she was no different from a resident of the Human Empire whatsoever.”

“You’ve got a point……”

Nodding, Eugeo continued his train of thought with a reflective tone.

“……Ever since I was a child, I’ve always been told that the humans of the Land of Darkness are just a bunch of barbarians more horrifying than even the goblins or orcs, though it turns out neither their appearance nor language is any different from ours. In which case, why……”

‘Is there any need for war’ was probably how my partner was going to finish that thought.

He’s right, there’s actually no need for war. According to Cardinal, the oncoming invasion by the Dark Territory Army was just a 《Final Load Test》 that the staff from Rath, the ones who created this world, had come up with to set the stage for Artificial Fluctlights being forced to evolve, after all. If any of the staff members were to just adjust some parameters to transform the barren Land of Darkness into a land as fertile as the one in the Human Empire, that alone would be more than enough to eliminate any cause for war.

But a waiting game won’t make it come to pass, nor can I make it happen with my will. Even if I were to manage to establish contact with the real world, for argument’s sake, Rath might actually log me out, but they wouldn’t put the Final Load Test to a halt. What’s more, Underworld’s timescale is accelerated hundreds, or possibly even over a thousand times compared to the real world, so by the time I wake up in the real world and gain the ability to take action on that side, the war against the Dark Territory will have already begun, probably resulting in a great many lives——possibly including even Eugeo, lost in the process.

As I pondered on such things standing still, Eugeo gave a light slap on my back.

“Come on, Kirito, let’s get back to our room. We’ve gotta get some cakes made by the end of the night.”

“Oh yeah…… right.”

As I nodded, Corsche directed a barely-visible curious look at me.

“Cakes? Do you two gentlemen make cakes?

“We’ve got orders from the Supreme Priest, y’see…… Oh, right, you haven’t eaten any of our cakes, right, Corsche.”

In response to my words, the childish-looking——though her true age has yet to be confirmed——cleaner nodded in silence. Although her expressions were indistinct as always, I did get the feeling that I caught a sign of a sliver of curiosity behind it. After exchanging a look with Eugeo, I once again posed a question to Corsche.

“When will you be done with your work?”

“At six o’clock.”

“In that case, could you come to the Great Dining Room at around eight? I’d like to ask for your help with taste-testing some cakes.”

Just then, Corsche sunk into thought for a few moments, before opening her mouth in an unusually-fidgety manner.

“Umm…… would you mind if I brought my friends along as well?”

“F-friends? Who are they……?”

“Hatoa, the supervisor of floors twenty-four to twenty-six, as well as Vizec, the supervisor of floors thirty-one to thirty-three.”

“…………I see.”

I exchanged a glance with Eugeo once more. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that it would be physically impossible for Corsche to go ‘round cleaning the entirety of the enormous Central Cathedral all on her own. Apparently, it seems that one cleaner was assigned three floors each, though considering the area of a single floor, each floor might as well get its own cleaner.

In my stead, Eugeo nodded with a smile.

“Of course it’s all good. The cakes Kirito makes are quite big, so even the three of you won’t be able to finish it off on your own.”

Just then, a minusculely faint smile found its way on on Corsche’s face as she gave a deep bow of her head.

“Thank you very much, Kirito-sama, Eugeo-sama. In that case, I shall take the liberty of paying a visit to the Great Dining Room at eight o’clock.”

“Right-o. ‘Kay then, see you later.”

“All right. I shall be returning to my work.”

Upon making that statement, Corsche withdrew further down the corridor with a broom in hand. It probably wasn’t just my imagination that there was now a slight bit of a spring to her steps compared to before.

The instant we returned to Room 2808, Eugeo and I did a grand ‘ol stretch in sync.

“Mmmh…… ——This sure was an eventful day, huh, Kirito.”

At my partner’s words, I nodded in approval.

“No kidding. Who would have thought we’d be going all the way to the Great Eastern Gate riding on a dragon……”

“Not to mention that you were sitting behind the Esteemed Supreme Priest, Kirito.”

“It was super nerve-wracking, I’ll have you know.”

After responding as such, I recalled what Eugeo was doing while riding on Amayori’s back.

“That reminds me, what were you talking to Alice about during your flight?”

Although I had only brought up the question with the intention of poking fun at the guy a little bit, my partner responded in a gloomy tone, his eyelashes having gone down a bit.

“……As a matter of fact, I did try bringing up quite a few stories from Rulid Village, figuring that it might jog Alice’s memories of the old days even the slightest bit. Though…… all she did was throw in an interjection or two now and then in wonder, as if listening to stories about a land she had never once visited before……”

“Oh…… I see. Did you bring up her sister…… Selka too?”

Upon my enquiry, Eugeo gently shook his head.

“Uh-uh…… I couldn’t bring myself to do so. If even hearing Selka’s name were to fail to draw out any sort of reaction from her……I’d be forced to accept that Alice’s memories have been utterly wiped out, regardless of how I loathe to admit it, or so I felt.”

Placing my right hand on Eugeo’s back as he hung his head, I guided him further into the living room. After unfastening his Blue Rose Sword from his belt and then seating him on the sofa, I hung the sword on the wall rack along with mine.

Once I got back and sat down beside him, Eugeo finally began talking bit by bit.

“Throughout the day, my impression of the Esteemed Supreme Priest changed slightly. Till now, all I felt was fear, but seeing how awfully caring she was with Yukiori and how she saved Lipia-san’s dragon too, I did get the sense that she might have a nice side to her too…… ——Though.”

Atop his lap, he clenched his hands.

“Though, it is an undeniable fact that she was the one who wiped out Alice’s memories and turned her into an Integrity Knight. And that’s not all…… she even froze the Life of the Elevating Operator and a great many more people, and even has them work for eternity. That is far too cruel. How should I view…… her as a person, I’m not really……”

Having stopped his thought there, Eugeo covered his face with his hands.

As I gently wrapped my arm around my partner’s shoulder, I came to realise once more that I harboured the exact same impression of Supreme Priest Administrator myself. The imbalance between the heart of stone that allowed her to see all people aside from her as mere #pawns#(units), and the humanness that seeps out of her at times. Of course, I’m probably not free from duality in my nature myself, but Administrator takes it to an extreme.

As I lightly patted his not-too-muscular yet nonetheless well-built shoulders while reminiscing on today’s events——

“About that.”

This remark came neither from me, nor from Eugeo either.

Jumping off the collar of my outfit and landing on the table was a black spider, measly five millimetres in size. It was Cardinal’s familiar, Charlotte.

The spider whose existence I always find myself forgetting about for some reason, despite her constantly lurking somewhere on my clothes or head, continued her thought in a slightly husky feminine voice.

“I myself got a little curious about this, so I’ll be returning to Cardinal-sama’s side for a time.”

“Wha? You got curious…… you mean, about Administrator?”

“That’s right. I’ll be back by nightfall.”

Upon saying this, the spider hopped down to the floor, disappearing from sight in a flash.

The Great Library Room that Cardinal resided in existed inside the Central Cathedral yet was spatially cut off from it; even Administrator herself cannot enter it unless invited. Although I was curious about how Charlotte would return to the Library Room, it was no longer possible to go after her by now. Giving up on that thought, I shook Eugeo’s shoulder as he continued absent-mindedly staring at the table.

“Come on, let’s go for a dip in the bath. The head chef pops will get mad at us if we don’t wash off the dirt before heading to the kitchen.”

“……Oh yeah, you’ve got a point.”

Nodding, Eugeo slapped his own knees as if giving himself some strength, before standing up with great energy. Right afterward, the evening five o’clock bell rang out. There was one hour until the Grand Bath switched over to lady’s time.

Ordinarily, even among Integrity Knights Proper, only those who’d become high-ranked knights bestowed with dragons and Divine Objects of their own could use the Grand Bath on the ninetieth floor. Specifically, the regulation concerning this stated that 『Only high-ranked knights may enter the eightieth floor of the Central Cathedral and beyond; however, knights, monks, and other personnel granted special duties are exempt from this rule』. Basically, it meant that apprentice knights and low-ranked knights couldn’t enter the ninetieth floor and so couldn’t use the Grand Bath either as a result; that’s how the logic worked.

Turning that logic on its head, we were given permission by Administrator herself to pass through floors eightieth to ninety-fifth in order to fulfil our duty of supplying cakes for the regularly-held tea parties at the 《Morningstar Lookout》 on the ninety-fifth floor. As a matter of course, that also included the ninetieth floor that housed the Grand Bath, thus we’d be permitted to step into the bath as long it was gentlemen’s bathing time. ——When Eugeo first heard this interpretation of mine, he gave me a truly sceptical look, though it seems even he was unable to defy the glamour of a bath so wide that you could even go for some crawl-swimming inside of it if you felt like it.

The problem was that the elevating disk that runs between floors fiftieth and eightieth ends its service at six o’clock. Of course, if you were to consider the fact that the Elevating Operator has to manage it all by herself since morning, even six o’clock is far too long of a service time, though that doesn’t change the fact that going all the way up and down between floors twenty-eighth and ninetieth solely via the stairs is way too exhausting. Hence, if we felt like hitching a ride on the Elevating Disk even on our way back as well, we had to get out of the bath no later than five-fifty. It takes at least twenty minutes to reach the Grand Bath from our own room even when we do use the Elevating Disk, thus we’d only have a little less than thirty minutes of actual bathing time if we headed out now.

“Let’s hurry it up, Eugeo!”

Upon my shout, my partner finally responded with a “Yeah, yeah” in his usual tone.

3

By the time we painstakingly climbed all the way up the Grand Stairs to the fiftieth floor with a change of clothes in bags on hand, then had the Elevating Operator, who was carrying out her work with her usual indifference, ferry us to the eightieth floor, and then finally skipped up the remaining stairs to the ninetieth floor, both Eugeo and I were drenched in sweat.

Not sure if I should count it as a blessing, nor have I actually performed any analyses to prove this, exactly, but Underworlder sweat is just pure water and so it doesn’t leave any stains or odour when it dries off. Yet this fact apparently offered no reprieve for the sense of discomfort you were subjected to anyway, thus Eugeo began undoing the buttons of his jacket before the great door to the Grand Bath was fully opened.

‘Gogohn’, rumbled the doors open, beyond which we suddenly found ourselves in a vast bath; forget any dreams of the privacy afforded by a changing room you might have, as you won’t be able to find even a single pair of partitioning curtains here that you could use for the job. As we walked down the pathway covered in white steam, we found a bunch of trolleys with baskets set up around the middle of the room; the upper row of baskets were meant for used clothes, while the middle row was meant for any change of clothes you brought along with you. Meanwhile, the lower row of baskets were supplied with pure-white bath towels.

At present, it seemed like no other patrons had arrived before us, as all the baskets were empty. But then, ever since we began frequenting the Grand Bath, the only time we actually did come across any other knight here was on our first day, the time when we barged into the place without a single shred of an idea that we’d find ourselves at the Grand Bath——nor any idea that it was ladies’ time at that very moment, to make things worse—which nearly resulted in us being cut down by a towel-clad Alice.

Since we didn’t have Charlotte with us today either, I felt no reservations about shedding my clothes and hurling them into a basket.

“Urya!”

I jumped into the bath on the right side with a shout, generating a massive splash. If this were the real world, I’d start off with washing my body and head first…… or so would be the norm for this situation, but Underworlders were pretty open-minded on that subject, while this Grand Bath itself didn’t even have any pre-bath washing place in the first place.

Eugeo followed suit shortly afterwards as well, slipping into the hot water toes-first in a refined manner, unlike me. Relaxing the tension in our bodies in sync, “Phew……”, we both let out a sigh.

For some time after we had set off from Rulid Village, I did feel a bit awkward about going to the bath or taking a dip in the river with Eugeo, but I’ve finally grown used to it after three years. I’ve practically never had any skinship with a boy my age——which was probably the reason for my anxiety, though the same should have applied to Eugeo too. However, since he himself seemed entirely unfazed by the matter from the very start, I had begun to think that it was a common character trait for Underworlders or something, but then I was stumped when he started covering his body with a towel once we started going to the public primary trainee dorm bath at the Swordcraft Academy. Or perhaps, could it be that sharing my Life with Eugeo, when he was about to die from the slash wounds inflicted by a goblin in the cave at the northern End Mountains, had some sort of effect on his consciousness?

Either way, we’ve grown used to seeing each other’s body by now, thus I just spread out in the shape of the 大 kanji and floated up to the surface without paying it any mind. While the representation of liquids and the sensation you get on contact with them feel non-negligibly off in games like SAO and ALO, Underworld liquids, on the other hand, are a picture-perfect copy of the real thing; the somewhat hot water stimulated my skin so well that I lacked the vocabulary to describe the pure pleasure I felt as my stiff muscles relaxed to the very core.

“Uaaa…………”

Following my moan, Eugeo to my right gave me a mild smile.

“Kirito, for all that usual whining of yours about the hassle of taking a bath, you sure do sound awfully ecstatic when you actually do get into a bath, considering those moans you let out each time you do.”

“Needing to go all the way up to the ninetieth floor for it is the actual hassle here…… If I were living on this floor, I’d be going in for a dip three times a day.”

“You’re so totally lying about that. The bath at the Elite Disciple dormitory was just one floor away, yet you never bothered going there unless I brought it up.”

“I can’t seem to remember the distant past all that well.”

After weaseling my way out of the predicament, I followed up right away with this.

“……Though, don’t you get the feeling that it kinda does feel like all of that took place in the distant past, despite the fact that it’s actually only been a mere three weeks since we graduated from the Swordcraft Academy?”

“Yeah…… I sure do. Wonder if Tiese and Ronye are doing well……”

“Come to think of it, we’ve yet to celebrate the fact that the two of them have become Elite Disciples, huh. I’d also like to see Liena-sempai again…… I wonder who’d we have to ask for permission to go out to town……”

Both of us sank into thought at the same moment.

The first person to come to mind was our instructor, Scheta-sempai, though all she’s ever interested in is forcing us to work our butts off——I mean, teaching us the way of the sword in the training grounds on the fifty-first floor; she’s never once even mentioned any regulations about our daily lives.

Knight Commander Bercouli, the man who supervises the entirety of the Integrity Knight Order, would seem like the guy with the authority to grant such permission, though I’ve never actually managed to come across the guy a single time ever since he showed up at the Grand Kitchen out of the blue last night, when he ate four slices of my prototype cheesecake, nor do I have any idea where I could find him. With Chief Elder Chudelkin, I can’t shake the feeling that the only thing I’d get out of him would be, “As if I’d ever grant ya permission for that, hohiihihi”, while with Supreme Priest Administrator……there’s two options: either she grants us permission like it’s no big deal, or she gets so angry that she turns us into plates.

“……Let’s ask Alice about that before we hit anyone up directly.”

Once I proposed that idea, Eugeo nodded along after making a small splash.

“I was just thinking the same thing. Though, where would we find Alice’s room, I wonder……”

“She’s a high-ranked knight, so wouldn’t it be above the eightieth floor? Who knows, maybe it’s right next to the Grand Bath.”

“Hey now, Kirito, I sure hope you’re not planning on going out to look for it once we step out of the bath.”

“Naaah, not even I feel up for that; we really should narrow down the search range a bit first…… and though we could try asking someone about her room, we haven’t exactly managed to come across any people whatsoever on these floors. That said, just like with Corsche, this place should at least have a cleaner around.”

“You do indeed have a point…… ——Let’s try asking the girl when we meet up with her at the Grand Kitchen.”

Hearing Eugeo’s words, I turned my gaze towards the western wall.

The eastern and western walls at the Grand Bath were made out of latticed windows that spawned all the way up to the ceiling from the floor; we had a clear view of the night sky and its entire gradation of colours, ranging from scarlet to indigo blue. Seeing as we were four hundred metres above ground, you probably wouldn’t be able to find a bath or pool this big with such great scenery in the real world. Although I’d usually settle for just a quick dip whenever I take a bath, I could very much see myself spending an hour or so in a place this good.

But that won’t be happening today. If Eugeo and I don’t manage to supply a shortcake with a double serving of strawberries, in addition to a cheesecake with a double serving of cream, for the extraordinary tea party that’ll be held just past noon tomorrow, we’ll end up being turned into plates…… I mean, vases. In these circumstances, I would very much love to call off our morning practice, but we already got the entire afternoon off yesterday. While we did barely manage to fulfil Scheta-sensei’s condition of 《cutting two centimetres into a steel pillar》 back then, I’ve got a hunch that she’ll move the goalpost to three centimetres next time; more importantly, I don’t want her to get the impression that we’re neglecting our training.

Hence, we had a pressing need to finish up the two cakes within this night; what’s more, we couldn’t just half-ass this job either, seeing as we invited Corsche and her two friends along as taste-testers. Since making fresh cream takes up a boatload of time, we had to reach the kitchen by six o’clock.

“……Guess it’s about time we took our leave.”

Once I uttered that sentence, “Guess so”, Eugeo responded with a nod and stood up. Chasing after my partner’s well-toned back as he headed up the passageway, I made up my mind: ‘Whenever I become a high-ranked knight, I’m so moving into the floor just below this one……’

Having used the Elevating Operator’s services to go back down to the fiftieth floor just before the end of her work hours, we then went straight down to the tenth floor, where we mixed in with the monks and nuns in the dining room to eat an ample dinner, before heading into the kitchen.

Dinner time had only just begun, thus the over ten chefs in the vast kitchen were all hectically going about their work at their workstations. Planning out our route to avoid getting in anyone’s way, we quickly crossed the room to a corner, where we had had our own exclusive workstation made for us. Putting on white aprons that the head chef had offered us, we thoroughly washed our hands, before getting to work.

First we made the batter for the sponge cake out of wheat flour, sugar, eggs, milk, and butter; then we poured it into two moulds and inserted them into the oven. This step no longer had any chance of failing, so long as we didn’t make any mistakes with the quantities for each of the ingredients, or the time the batter had to spend in the oven. However, the actual problem was the next step.

I brought over a large jar of milk from the pantry and poured out all its content into a silver bowl. As I got my large wooden spatula ready, Eugeo held out his right index finger towards the bowl and chanted the verse for his Sacred Art.

“System call. Generate cryogenic element.”

The sole freezing element that Eugeo created was dropped right into the middle of the mass of milk. ‘Pishi!’, the moment I heard this faint sound,

“Urya——h!”

I began mixing the bowl with my spatula. If we were to spill even a single drop of it, we’d end up with an earful from the head chef about it, thus despite moving my hands as fast as physically possible, I limited it to an extent where the milk wouldn’t cross over the brim of the bowl. Once the freezing element emitted all its chilliness and disappeared, Eugeo chanted the rite once more.

After three cycles of throwing a freezing element into the batter and then stirring it at high speeds, my spatula started encountering some resistance. The milk’s water content had started to freeze. This is where it gets tough——if we cool it down too much, the bowl’s contents will freeze up entirely, while if we don’t cool it enough, the cream will end up being too watery.

“How’s it looking, Kirito?”

Faced with Eugeo’s question, I scooped some of the sherbetted milk with my spatula.

“Hmm…… needs just a bit more. Could you make me one half of a freezing element?”

“Don’t push for the impossible. I’ll try letting it hang in the air for a bit to make it smaller.”

Responding as such, Eugeo created a fourth freezing element and let it stay put at the tip of his index finger. With all types of elements, there’s a risk that they’ll discharge spontaneously, or fly off somewhere if your concentration on them is disturbed, thus it’s actually surprisingly difficult to maintain them on your fingertips for dozens of seconds. However, Eugeo continued keeping his freezing element still in once place with an unconcerned¹ look. Just when the element shining in the centre of the white chill hanging in the air lost its radiance to some extent, he muttered, “Here I go.”

As ordered, I got a freezing element that had lost half of its energy thrown into the bowl, at which point I began carefully moving my spatula. Thanks to spending basically every night making fresh cream this past week, I’ve built up an intuition for reaching the ideal state of the cream.

“Eugeo, new bowl and strainer, qui-……”

Before I could even finish that thought, my partner already had a silver strainer in his hands. I poured the milk-turned-sherbet into it. The frozen water content remained on the strainer, allowing only the cream to run down into the bowl like goo.

The moment the last drop fell down from the strainer, I gave a thumbs-up with my right hand in silence. Eugeo then returned what remained on the strainer into the original bowl. With this, we were able to use five litres——in Underworld units, that would be five lirs of milk to produce five hundred millilitres = five hundred millers of fresh cream.

“Hmmh……no matter how many times I see this, it ain’t gettin’ any less intriguin’.”

Hearing a voice coming from behind us all of a sudden, we hurriedly turned around.

Standing there was the white-bearded head chef with white overalls and a white hat. In spite of the fact that he must have been right in the middle of cooking a ton of food in the battleground-like kitchen, there was not a single stain on his clothes, nor his hat.

The head chef wedged his way between me and Eugeo, peering into the bowl with the fresh cream.

“Can I sample this ’ere thin’?”

“G-go right ahead.”

Picking up a smallish spoon from the countless number of cutlery hanging on the wall, I held it out to him. Upon taking it from me, the head chef scooped up just a little bit of the fresh cream and carried it up to his mouth. Moving his cheeks exaggeratedly, he slowly took in the taste and nodded.

“……I see now. So this ’ere is what the condensed savouriness of milk tastes like. Despite its richness, it’s far easier on the stomach than buttercream…… ya might jus’ be able to use it for meat and fish dishes too, rather than just sweets.”

‘Might’ is quite the understatement, considering that I’m pretty sure it’s an integral part of French cuisine, though I got the feeling that showing off more real world knowledge than I already have was too dangerous.

“If you need some, we could make it for you anytime, sir.”

When I said this instead, something resembling a smile, which was a rare sight for this man, found its way on the chef’s lips.

“That so, ’n that case, could’ja make about two hundred millers of the stuff whenever ya have yer hands free?”

“With pleasure. We will make some later in the night and leave it in the pantry for you.”

“Thanks for takin’ the time to help out, I’ll be countin’ on ya.”

With a broad smirk, the head chef returned the spoon to me and headed back to his workstation. That instant, Eugeo heaved out a sigh.

“I was so sure he was going to scold us for something again.”

“Now that you mention it, we actually didn’t get an earful for once. Perhaps, our skills as chefs are being gradually recognised.”

Once I responded as such, Eugeo took on a rather worried look for some reason.

“Kirito, don’t tell me you’ve given up on becoming a Knight Proper and are now thinking of finding a job at the Grand Kitchen, are you?”

“What gave you that idea. I want to outgrow cake baking as soon as possible myself, I’ll have you know……”

Slapping my worrywart partner on the shoulder, I turned my gaze back to our workbench.

“Now then, let’s get the finishing touches on this baby done already. Go get the sugar.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Nodding, Eugeo held out an unglazed ceramic jar. Measuring forty rams² of pure white sugar with scales, I added it to the bowl. Next up, I took an eggbeater from the wall and passed it on to Eugeo.

“I’ll use Incarnation to protect against any spills, so I entrust the mixing to you.”

Having uttered those words, I firmly supported the bowl with both hands. Taking on a serious look, Eugeo gently inserted the silver eggbeater into the fresh cream.

“Here I go.”

“I’m ready for ya.”

Just as Eugeo began moving his right hand, I covered the top of the bowl with a lid created with my imagination power.

Although my Incarnation power was currently just barely powerful enough to push a ten shear bronze coin atop a table, it was just narrowly possible to use it as a shield against cream droplets that fly out during the mixing. But then again, being skilled at work requiring precision, Eugeo practically didn’t generate any splatters from the cream as he continued spinning the eggbeater at high-speed, until eventually the contents of the bowl gradually started building up some viscosity.

When we first tried doing this step, I had the idea that the more we whip the cream, the higher the quality of the whipped cream would be, but when I tried stirring it like crazy back then, it started hardening up midway through for some reason, turning into butter at the very end. Although I don’t know if the same applies to the real world, it was necessary to pick out the perfect moment for stopping the mixing, just as was the case with extracting fresh cream. Maintaining my Incarnation barrier, I focused on the cream. The moment I spotted a glassy lustre on the surface of the cream as it visibly turned semi-solid, I shouted out: “Stop now!”

Stopping at that exact moment, Eugeo suddenly took out the eggbeater. Not a single drop of the whipped cream still clinging to the beater fell down.

“Alright, nicely done. You’ve sure improved your hand with the eggbeater, Eugeo-kun.”

Upon my praise, a big grin appeared on my partner’s face for a moment, though his smile vanished the very next moment as he answered with the following remark.

“I’m not going to become a chef either, I’ll have you know.”

The evening eight o’clock bell rang out just as we finished up two sponge cakes with a double serving of strawberries and two cheesecakes with a double serving of cream.

Although dinner time for the monks lasted till eight o’clock, all of them had finished eating and turned in their tableware ten minutes beforehand, which probably doesn’t come as a surprise considering what Underworlders are like, thus there was no one else left in the vast dining hall anymore. I had been wondering where the cleaners, grooms and other auxiliary personnel had their meals around here, but now I’ve heard that there’s a device that carries food to them at an exclusive dining hall on another floor. Why can’t we all just eat together…… or so I would like to argue, but this system was apparently created simply because there was a space shortage problem, rather than as a way to discriminate against the auxiliary personnel. And I can indeed see the issue here: despite the fact that the Grand Dining Hall was so big that it could probably seat a hundred people, it gets entirely full at peak times, so it would be impossible to cram in dozens of auxiliary personnel in here as well.

Eugeo and I carefully examined the cakes, two of each kind, to select the best iteration of each, which we then placed into a plain-wooden box and stashed them into the refrigerated storeroom inside the pantry. I had no clue what the mechanism for the refrigeration was in there, but if we left the cakes there, they would lose barely any Life till noon tomorrow.

We then moved the remaining cakes on our workbench to large plates, which we then covered with silver lids and carried over to the dining hall. Just then, we saw a petite figure squirm its way inside through the front door at perfect timing. It was Corsche the cleaner——though rather than wearing her usual maid outfit, she had changed into a plain white one-piece and had untied her hair as well. Her current look bore just the slightest resemblance to Yui, the daughter Asuna and I had, whom I hadn’t seen in a long while.

Suppressing the prickling pain in my chest, I waved my right hand.

“Hey Corsche, over here, over here.”

Once I called out to her, Corsche gave us a slight bow, before beckoning someone at the entrance. Two new figures appeared from there, trotting over behind Corsche.

After exchanging some words in a whispered conversation, the three of them walked up to us as we waited for them at the back of the dining hall. Once they were only two metres away, the trio formed a line and gave deep bows in sync.

“Kirito-sama, Eugeo-sama. We humbly thank you for your gracious invitation to this occasion.”

Once Corsche finished her very courteous address, the two friends of hers to her left followed suit.

“I-I am known as Hatoa, the cleaner.”

“L…… likewise, Vizec.”

Hatoa was a girl in the same outfit as Corsche, while Vizec was a boy in a white shirt and black trousers. They were all the same age——seemingly around six- or seventeen years old, though appearances were misleading at the Central Cathedral. However, it was at least certain that the two beside Corsche were considerably tense. Times like these call for entrusting everything to my easy-going partner.

As if having read that thought of mine, Eugeo glanced at me, before taking on a sweet smile as he replied.

“We’re glad you could come over. I’m apprentice knight Eugeo. And this is Kirito. Have all three of you already eaten your dinner?”

“Yes, sir.”

At Corsche’s reply, Hatoa and Vizec nodded in sync.

“That so, oh well, there shouldn’t be a problem with cakes anyway. As Kirito puts it, there’s a separate stomach for desserts, after all.”

Just as Eugeo was about to turn back to the table behind him with another smile, Vizec let out a loud “Um, excuse me!”.

“Hm? What’s the matter?”

“Umm…… regarding this matter, Corsche mentioned something about us being offered some cake that the Esteemed Knights have baked……” “Yep, that’s about right.”

“In that case…… we simply must politely decline your generous offer. We cleaners are forbidden from accepting money or material possessions from esteemed knights and esteemed Sacred Arts masters.”

At the words of Vizec, who very much looked the part of an ardently strait-laced boy, Hatoa lowered her gaze dejectedly, while a slight aura of discontent could be felt from Corsche. After blinking incessantly for a while, Eugeo questioned the boy in a calm tone.

“Why is that the case?”

“That would be because that is what the rules say on the matter.”

Hearing Vizec’s reply, Eugeo ended up holding his tongue. Not like we can do anything about that…… Underworlders generally never broke any rules. Yet over the course of these past three years, I learnt one thing: this wasn’t as absolute a restraint as I had imagined at first, apparently.

“Oh, Vizec-kun, no need to worry about that. After all, we didn’t gather you here solely to have you eat cake, but rather to have you serve as taste-testers, from whom we could receive valuable feedback. Basically, you can think of this as a work-related activity.”

As I made this declaration in as serious an expression and tone as I could muster, Vizec’s eyes shot open in shock, while Corsche nodded beside him.

“I had mentioned the same thing myself, though.”

‘Well, if it is just work…’, Vizec easily gave in to my logic, thus we sat the three of them down in a row and set up a load of small plates and forks on the table.

After making eye-contact with Eugeo, I lifted the silver lids covering the two large plates in a swift motion. That very instant, “Wooow……”, an interjection escaped from the lips of the boy and the girls. “Y……you mean these are cakes!?”

The high-pitched reaction was blurted out by Hatoa, the most petite one of the group. Vizec followed up as well.

“I was so sure that cakes were supposed to be brown, rectangular, and hard confections……”

“Come on, give them a try.”

Saying thus, I picked up a long knife from the table.

In all our tea parties thus far, we had Scheta-sensei slice up the cakes with her 《Black Lily Sword》 Divine Object and then the Supreme Priest would distribute the slices to small plates with her Incarnation, though we would have to make do with divvying up the slices on our own this time. Taking the thinnest and sharpest knife in the kitchen, I first held it up right over the shortcake and then focused my mental resources on the task, before swooping down on the cake.

Then I followed up with a diagonal swoop of the blade, and then yet another diagonal one, dividing the cake into six equal parts. Considering that we’ve just had dinner, I did get the feeling that the slices were a bit on the big side, though we were at an age that boasted the greatest growth in the cap on Life, which also meant a hearty appetite to boot, so we’d probably be fine on that front. Sliding in the blade of the knife under one of the slices and borrowing some help from Incarnation, I carefully lifted the slice and moved it over to a plate.

‘Though a far cry from the divine skills of Scheta-sensei, I’d say the slices aren’t half bad……’, as I comforted myself with such thoughts, I continued repeating the same process. Once the three of them all had some cake in front of them, I said the following.

“If you notice anything noteworthy, don’t hold back and share your thoughts.”

Nodding with a serious look on their faces, the three of them took up their forks in sync. Giving an “Itadakimasu” in tandem, they cut identical size bits from the tips of their shortcakes and then carried the slices to their mouths; Hatoa did so without any hesitation whatsoever, Corsche only took a bite after staring fixedly at her piece for a good few seconds, while Vizec still seemed to be faltering a bit with his share.

Three seconds later, considering all the people who have partaken in the cakes Eugeo and I baked, their faces took on the most honest, straightforward, and childishly pure reactions out of the entire bunch. After letting out a short sigh of bliss with smiles so broad that they even brought joy to us, the three of them instantly cut their second slices.

Having consumed the shortcake in but a few minutes, the trio drank some of the black tea with milk that Eugeo had brewed for them, at which point they heaved out a long sigh in sync.

The first to open their mouths was Vizec.

“It was very…… very delicious.”

After uttering this in a no-longer stiff tone as a smile befitting his apparent age found its way on his face, he abruptly returned to his straitlaced expression.

“Now, for what I have noticed…… ehm…… I thought it was awfully delicious……”

At that instant, Corsche butted in with a retort in a whisper from the next seat.

“Isn’t that just saying the same thing in different words.”

“Well sooorry, but that actually is the thought that came to my mind, so what more do you expect from me?”

“Can’t you be more specific with what about the cake made it delicious and how?”

“If you’re so smart, why don’t you describe the specifics yourself then, Corsche.”

As Eugeo and I observed the whispered quarrel between the duo in a dumbstruck state.

“Umm, excuse me……”, a whisper-like interjection was uttered by Hatoa on the far right. It was so quiet that it was on the verge of being inaudible at all, but it was enough for Corsche and Vizec to hold their tongues.

“Feel free to bring up anything on your mind.”

Seemingly encouraged by Eugeo’s words, Hatoa continued with her remark.

“Um, I found it incredibly delicious myself as well. It is the first time I have ever eaten something so spongy…… Though……”

After a moment of hesitation, she looked up at me with an intense gaze——

“Eating it reminded me of something, you see. A long…… a very long time ago, I had the pleasure of eating a confection that was as delicious as this one……”

“Whut.”

I reflexively bent forward with interest.

“W-what kind of sweet was that?”

“It had happened a truly long time ago, thus I do not recall the fine details…… but as I was cleaning the Grand Stairs, the Esteemed Vice Knight Commander happened to pass by and graced me with confection about this small.”

Her thumb and index finger formed a gap about two centimetres in size.

“It was…… glossy brown, round yet a bit pointed down its centre, just like soap foam when it is dripping down, and it felt crunchy upon biting it……”

“Huhmm……?”

With so many details, there was already a certain sweet that came to mind, but I decided to press on for more.

“What’s the taste like……”

“Ehm, as I recall…… I was surprised how bitter it felt at first, but then I suddenly felt a sweetness and a strangely nice aroma filling my mouth……”

The moment Hatoa’s description reached this point, Vizec to her left burst out, seemingly no longer capable of holding himself back.

“I’ve never received any sweets like that from the Esteemed Vice Knight Commander.”

“Neither have I.”

Upon Corsche following up without a moment’s delay, Hatoa glanced at the two of them and pouted just the slightest bit.

“You hadn’t been there, after all.”

‘Grrr’…… as the three of them continued glaring at each other, Eugeo posed a question at them in a gentle tone.

“Say guys, you mentioned moments ago that you were forbidden from receiving money and material possessions from knights, so is food considered an exception to that rule?”

Indeed, Hatoa’s story ran counter to that rule. Besides, now that I think back on it, I think even the Elevating Operator mentioned something about receiving anpan³ from the Knight Commander.

At Eugeo’s question, Corsche shook her head.

“Oh no, this is no exception; it is likely that Hatoa was honoured with confections by the Esteemed Vice Knight Commander before this rule came into practice. Seeing as the rule was specifically born out of the necessity to address the issue of cleaners and apprentice monks flaunting amongst each other whatever they had been graced with by the esteemed knights, after all.”

Just as Corsche gave this explanation, Hatoa hurriedly added on.

“I would never conduct myself in something as disgraceful as flaunting.”

“Hmmh……”

I groaned once again. Brown, similar in shape to slimes that come up in local RPGs of a certain country, crunchy, and bittersweet…… with so many details, chocolates are the only thing that come to my mind. Yet I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen, nor even heard of chocolates being mentioned by name in Underworld, let alone getting the chance to actually eat some myself thus far. So where exactly did this Vice Knight Commander or whatever get their hands on some?

“……What kind of person is this Esteemed Vice Knight Commander?”

At my question, the boy and girls——though they might just be far older than both me and Eugeo actual age-wise——held their tongues for about two seconds, before answering one after the other: Corsche started first, followed by Hatoa and then Vizec.

“The esteemed knight bears the name of Fanatio Synthesis Two-sama.”

“Fanatio is a kind personage, though they have seemed somewhat strained for some time now.”

“They lead a quartet of Esteemed Knights Proper known as the 《Four Whirling Blades》.”

After noting each piece of info in my mind, I threw in an extra question.

“Would you happen to know where I could find this Fanatio-sama?”

The answer came from Vizec.

“When not engaged in official external business, the Esteemed Vice Knight Commander may be found providing tutelage to the great people of the Four Whirling Blades at the Second Training Grounds on the fifty-second floor.”

4

Upon consuming their cheesecakes after finishing the shortcakes, Corsche and the others drank up their milk tea with looks of utter bliss.

Once we finished cleaning up with their help, then said our goodnights on our way up the Grand Stairs and finally returned to our personal rooms on floor twenty-eight, Eugeo and I spent several moments standing still at the entrance to our shared living room.

A long day did make me feel exhausted, of course, yet my mind was also still stirred by the fact that we had flown all the way to the 《Great Eastern Gate》 on dragons with the Supreme Priest and Alice——as well as the fact that we had encountered a Dark Knight from the Dark Territory and managed to exchange words with her.

Of course, I had heard from Cardinal about the Dark Territory, as well as the humans and demi-human races residing within the Land of Darkness, but getting a glimpse of the barren, black-as-coal land, as well as the dragon knight with purplish hair, really drove home the point that the threat of the 《Final Load Test》 was right at our doorstep. If the repairs Administrator conducted through the Sacred Arts were to ever fail to keep up with the damage and thus led to the Great Eastern Gate crumbling, a force of tens of thousands would descend on the Human Empire.

What kind of mission was Lipia Zancale, the Dark Knight that should be sleeping at Room 2809 on the opposite side of the hall, bearing that it would bring her to the Great Eastern Gate? If this were a movie, it would be quite likely that this scene served to introduce a plot point about a scheme to either assassinate a VIP or sabotage us in some way, thus I did have the urge to go and peek into the room to check if she actually was sleeping right now, but the Supreme Priest and the Order of Integrity Knights surely wouldn’t approve of that idea.

Either way, she probably was actually bearing a message from her superior——the Dark General. While I very much do find it hard to stop thinking about what she was planning to bring up during tomorrow’s talk, we’ll be participating in the event ourselves, where we must satisfy the Supreme Priest if we don’t want to get turned into plates, I mean, vases.

Although the 《shortcake with a double serving of strawberries》 and the 《cheesecake with a double serving of cream》 that were requested of us had already been baked and stored inside the refrigerated storeroom, it still concerned me that both of those were just upgrades for the old entries of our menu repertoire. I would very much like to bring out the apple tarts that I had been planning to first unveil during next week’s tea party, for tomorrow instead; unfortunately, however, the kitchen has yet to receive its shipment of the key ingredient for the recipe: apples. Although I do feel like I managed to find a hint for inventing a new cake recipe among the impressions Corsche and the others shared on our cakes, I also lacked the time to actually turn that idea into material form……

As I stood there pondering one idea after another, Eugeo tapped me on the shoulder.

“Kirito, we did what we could, so let’s go get some rest for the night.”

“Oh, yeah…… you’re right. Ehm…… we do have a training session with Scheta-sensei from nine o’clock tomorrow once again, right?”

At my question, Eugeo nodded like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Tomorrow’s not a rest day, so why wouldn’t we have one.”

“And getting a break for just the morning portion is…… off the table, huh……”

“We just had a break for yesterday’s afternoon portion, remember? Heck, wasn’t the fact that we were going to have a training session tomorrow the whole reason for getting the cakes done this very night?”

“You do have a point there, but……”

As if to dispel my indecisiveness, Eugeo clenched the hand he had left on my shoulder.

“Even Corsche and the others spoke so well of your cakes, Kirito. Let’s have some faith in them, okay?”

“……Yeah, you’re right. Though, I do have to correct you there: it’s not my cakes, but ours.”

Upon my response, my partner gave a slightly embarrassed smile.

Once I moved over to my personal bedroom, changed into the colourless shirt and shorts that served as my pyjamas and then went to bed, I was instantly assailed by severe drowsiness.

If you think about it, since relative time in Underworld should be accelerated to at least a thousand times that of the real world, it was indeed strange that you really do get sleepy every night just like you’re supposed to; though, despite spending three years in this world, I haven’t really noticed any problems with my brain——wait, I mean my Fluctlight, so far. I do get a sense that the moment when I return to the real world is precisely when any such problem would actually rear their heads, but there’s no real point to worrying about it for the moment……

Such thoughts of mine were about to dissipate as I fell into a deep sleep, but right at that moment…

“Kirito……Kirito.”

Getting the sense that I was hearing a faint voice close to my ear, I gave what basically amounted to an automatic response.

“Save it for tomorrow, okay……”

Turning over, I tried falling asleep once again, but the voice didn’t go away.

“It’ll be too late by then. I just need a minute, so hear me out.”

“Yeah, sure…… I hear you, crabs have poison in them, I know that……”

“Sheesh……”

That phrase was followed by a ‘Bofun!’ (poof) sound. The thin blanket whirled up, before descending again.

“……What’s the big idea……?”

With strenuous attempts to lift my eyelids, I turned over to the opposite side.

And right before my eyes lay a black-haired woman.

“…………Uowah!?”

As I was about to spring out of the bed in shock, my drowsiness entirely blown away in an instant, the woman quickly held me down in place.

“Don’t cause a ruckus; you’ll wake Eugeo up.”

“E-easy for you to say not to cause a ruckus; who in the world are……”

As I was about to demand answers from her in a hoarse voice, I finally realised something. That this woman of ethereal beauty was Charlotte the Black Spider, the familiar of Cardinal the Sage, in her human form.

“Ch-Charlotte……san? Where did you even come from, and what are you doing here?”

As I enquired in a whisper, the woman elegantly shrugged her shoulders while still lying in bed.

“I’ve just returned from Cardinal-sama’s side, where else?”

“O-oh, right……”

Thinking back on it, despite usually lurking somewhere on my body, Charlotte had taken her leave this evening, mentioning that she “got curious about something”; she had been gone ever since. I didn’t really mind the fact that she came back per se, but——

“……Y-you could’ve returned in a more discreet way…… why are you even in your human mode anyway.”

“Well, you wouldn’t wake up otherwise. More importantly, I have an urgent message for you from Cardinal-sama.”

Whispering this, Charlotte quickly scanned the bedroom with her gaze.

“……I have confirmed that there are none of the Supreme Priest’s terminals in this room, but you can never be too cautious.”

Once she muttered those words, she lifted up the blanket and covered both my head and hers with it.

“System call…… Generate umbral element.”

Creating three darkness elements with a fluent incantation, she whispered.

“Hold your breath.”

“Form element, mist shape.”

Turning the darkness elements into mist, Charlotte manipulated them with her fingertips to permeate the blanket with it, forcing it to absorb the mist particles.

“You can breathe now.”

“Phew……”

Looking up at the cloth now-tinged with a faint purple light, I enquired about it.

“Why darkness elements……?”

“When you do this, the cloth becomes capable of absorbing practically all sounds.”

“Whoa……”

Now that she mentioned it, I could no longer hear the sound of the night breeze that had been faintly reverberating in the air.

“Sure is a handy technique, I’ll learn it for myself.”

“Do be careful though, as you’ll lose Life if you inhale the darkness elements in their mist state.”

“……Yes, ma’am.”

‘Why didn’t you say so sooner then……’, muttering this at the back of my mind, I returned to the topic.

“So then, what’s this message from Cardinal?”

“Kirito, do you remember what Eugeo mentioned about the Supreme Priest this evening?”

Getting a question in response to my question, I muttered, “Ehm.”

“As I recall……‘Till now, she was supah scary, but seeing how awfully caring she was with Yukiori and how she saved the Dark Knight’s dragon too, my impression of her changed a bit’……or something of the sort……”

“He hadn’t used any strange words like 《supah》, but yes.”

Whispering this, Charlotte brought her face another three cm closer to mine. As an oddly sweet scent wafted from her, I chanted “Her spider mode is her actual form!” in the back of my mind as I listened to the rest of what she had to say.

“——For some time now……specifically, since the first tea party held on the rest day seven days ago, I myself have been feeling a subtle change in her tone and demeanour. At this point, I don’t have to keep it to myself; Cardinal-sama and I had anticipated undoubtedly finding ourselves in combat against the Supreme Priest at the tea party, so we had even come prepared with teleportation arts for isolating you and the knights.”

“Wait…… r-really?”

“Though, we never did actually find ourselves in battle. Far from it, in fact, as the Supreme Priest agreed to hold weekly talks with Cardinal-sama on each rest day, and even approved the idea of cooperating to repair the Great Eastern Gate…… such a response would have been utterly unimaginable from the old her.”

“Hmmh……”

Now that she mentioned it——the Supreme Priest Administrator we had met during our audience on the fiftieth floor the day we had first entered the Central Cathedral, was as cold as ice and was clad in an aura as sharp as a blade, making me feel so tense that I couldn’t even keep my breathing in order. I do also remember Eugeo telling me, “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”, after the audience.

“You do indeed have a point there, both Eugeo and I did get the feeling that she might not be as scary of a person as we had initially assumed…… Though, isn’t that just what humans are like? I mean, like, including you, Charlotte, I feel that people with an unchanging emotional state are the ones in the minori……”

“Supreme Priest Administrator, for one, is an exception.”

Charlotte declared as such in an even more subdued voice.

“I’m sure you’ve heard from Cardinal-sama, right? The Supreme Priest ended up burning the will of an inhuman being that controls this world into her own soul. At that very moment, her humanity had been erased down to the last fragment…… or at least it should have been so.”

“Well then…… why didn’t the Supreme Priest try to kill Cardinal at last week’s tea party……”

“Both Cardinal-sama and I have been harbouring the same concern; based on today’s events……. the fact that she didn’t kill the Dark Knight and, on the contrary, even allowed her to come with us to this tower, our doubts have turned into conviction. That is why Cardinal-sama decided to brave the dangers and inspect her own memories and soul. To be precise, the memories of Administrator that reside within Cardinal-sama.”

“…………”

Unaware that my drowsiness was utterly gone by now, I held my breath as I found myself drawn in by Charlotte’s words.

“As a result…… Cardinal-sama has arrived at a single hypothesis. ‘Perhaps the cakes that you and Eugeo make have had an impact on Administrator’s personality’……as she put it.”

“T-the cakes did what!?”

Blurting out a shout involuntarily, I shut my mouth in a panic. Luckily, thanks to being soaked in darkness elements, the blanket seemingly didn’t allow anyone outside of it to hear me. Toning down the volume, I responded with a question.

“W-what’s that supposed to mean……? I do admit that the cakes are delicious, but they’re just sweets.”

At that point, Charlotte closed her eyelids for a moment, as if recalling the taste of the cheesecake she had eaten at today’s tea party, before she whispered.

“Apparently, Cardinal-sama found it practically impossible to rewatch those memories even with her arts, as they were too old…… but it seems that when Administrator was still a little girl named Quinella, her mother used to bake them occasionally.”

“By baking ’them’……are you referring to cakes?”

“Correct.”

Staring fixedly at those deep crimson eyes of Charlotte, identical to those of her spider mode, as she nodded, I muttered the following.

“But……it did seem like it was the first time both the Supreme Priest and Cardinal had eaten any.”

“It seems that the cakes that Quinella’s mother used to bake were a different kind of cakes compared to the shortcakes and cheesecakes you bake. Flat cylinder shape, divided into triangular pieces, the soft and tender texture…… those were details that could be extracted from those memories, but the same couldn’t be said about their colour or flavour, according to Cardinal-sama.”

“…………So, you’re saying…… that despite them being a different kind of cake, getting a taste of our shortcakes and cheesecakes has had an impact on the Supreme Priest’s personality?”

“That seems to be the case.”

“In that case, if we were to successfully recreate the cakes that Quinella’s mother used to bake to a perfect degree…… and then let Administrator eat them, what would happen?”

When I timidly enquired on this subject, Charlotte spent several seconds in silence, before gently shaking her head to the sides on the pillow.

“I don’t know…… But…”

“……But……?”

“Something will happen. That is the one safe bet here…… or so Cardinal-sama says.”

5

18th Day of the Fourth Month, 381 HEC; 11:30.

As soon as we finished our morning practice, Eugeo and I bolted down the Grand Stairs five steps at a time to return to the twenty-eighth floor.

After hurling away our sweat-drenched training uniforms at the communal bath on that floor, where we washed off our sweat in a matter of two minutes, we changed into our usual knight uniforms. Bolting down the stairs again, we rushed into the Great Dining Hall on the tenth floor. We weaved through the monks and nuns enjoying their meals to burst into the kitchen, where we made our way to the refrigerated storeroom in the back, wrapping up our courtesy call with the head chef along the way in a hurry.

We then took out the two different cakes from the freezing-element-cooled shelves and stored them inside the dedicated transportation box. Since we couldn’t exactly dash our way to our destination with these in hand, we decided to head up the stairs at the most brisk walking pace we could manage——or at least we were about to do so.

All of a sudden, the monks and nuns stopped eating all at once, a hushed commotion breaking out in its stead, thus Eugeo and I stopped in our tracks right in the middle of the Grand Dining Hall. After swiveling my head around in all directions in utter confusion, I glanced towards the huge doors that lead to the Grand Stairs, freezing up in a jolt at that very instant.

Standing there leaning against one side of the open doors was a slender figure. That light purple dress and long, platinum silver hair could only belong to Supreme Priest Administrator herself.

The monks and nuns whispered things like “The Esteemed Supreme Priest……?” “The one and only……?” amongst themselves, but eventually they all probably arrived at the natural conclusion that the Central Cathedral——make that the entirety of the Human Empire, couldn’t possibly have any scoundrel that would dare to impersonate the Supreme Priest. Standing up in sync, they placed their crossed hands at their chests and gave a low bow, a salute that slightly differed from the salute knights use.

At that point, the Supreme Priest left the door behind her, as she gave a gentle wave of her hand.

“That’ll do, please return to your meals, everyone. Kirito, Eugeo, hurry up over here.”

Having heard this remark of hers, we couldn’t exactly keep on standing like poles indefinitely. We crossed the Dining Hall at a brisk pace, coming before the Supreme Priest. Since both of our hands were occupied with holding the plain wooden transportation boxes, we gave as deep of a bow as we could in place of a knight salute, before I timidly enquired the following.

“Umm, Esteemed Supreme Priest, what would you be doing here?”

“What even prompted this question; I’ve graciously come to pick you guys up, isn’t it obvious?”

After spending about a second staring fixedly at the ruler’s face as she languidly gave such an answer, I opened my mouth once more.

“B-but, why would the Esteemed Supreme Priest herself be……?”

“Because the only ones capable of using this art are me and that runt, silly.”

Saying thus, Administrator tapped on the tile at her feet with the tip of her lavish shoes.

At that point, a board with a white glow that was likely at least one metre wide and two metres high gradually rose up from the nearby floor without a sound. Once the glow vanished, I managed to make out that this board was, in fact, a door with some simple embellishments. This was the spatial transportation art that I had also witnessed when Cardinal the Sage invited us to the Library Room.

As Eugeo and I stood there petrified, the Supreme Priest opened the door and took one step inside. With a minuscule turn towards us——

“Are you coming with me, or not? Not like I mind if you don’t, but do keep in mind that if you fail to get to the ninety-fifth floor in the next eight…… make that seven minutes and forty seconds, I’ll be turning you into sugar jars.”

“W-we are coming, we are!”

Once I stepped through the door with that shout, Eugeo followed after me as well. According to my calculations, we should have managed to reach the venue thirty seconds ahead of the talks at twelve o’clock just fine, but even the slightest of troubles encountered along the way would basically guarantee our tardiness. Besides, I dread to discover what happens to those who squander the grace of Her Holiness the Supreme Priest herself coming to pick them up even more so.

Once the door closed behind Eugeo on its own, our surroundings were enveloped in pure darkness for a single moment, though a new door opened up ahead of us right afterwards. Beyond it, we found ourselves already standing at the 《Morning Star Lookout》 on floor ninety-five; a long, pure-white table and ten chairs were already set up in the hanging garden filled with gentle sunlight, some of which already hosting participants of the event.

Once Administrator walked up, the people sitting at the table stood up all at once.

Alice in a blue knight uniform and Scheta-sensei in a dark-grey uniform. Although both of them were armed with swords, they did not have any armour on.

In contrast, next to Scheta-sensei was a single fully-armoured Integrity Knight. This knight had silver armour, beneath which he wore a deep-purple knight uniform; I couldn’t see his face, as this knight had a full-face helmet with eagle or hawk ornamentations covering their head.

‘Wonder who’s this……’, just as this thought came to my mind, a fourth knight appeared from the spiral staircase leading to the floor below, with the Elevating Operator in an apron dress leading the way.

Black armour and a dark purple mantle. Since she wasn’t wearing any helmet, her dark skin and black hair were laid bare for all to see. She was Lipia Zancale, the Dark Knight from the Dark Territory.

Having come to a stop upon climbing up the stairs, Lipia looked over the other three knights in order, before giving a light bow. Unsurprisingly, she wasn’t armed with her sword, though the aura she gave off was no less impactful than that of the Integrity Knights. Once she walked over to the table with a dignified gait, the hawk-helmet knight pointed to the foot of the table——the spot where Cardinal would always be seated——in silence.

Once Lipia moved over to it and froze in an upright posture, Administrator began striding forward herself. She crossed the marble floor with a gait that didn’t seem to be bound by gravity, reaching the seat at the head of the table. Having casually sat down onto the seat, she gestured with her hand for the knights to be seated as well.

Eugeo and I made fleeting eye-contact with each other, before sitting down in our usual chairs. At this point, eight of the ten seats were now filled.

‘Wonder if that’s everyone for the day’s event’……but just when that thought crossed my mind, the 《Anywhere Door》 that had remained summoned behind us once again opened up; a girl in a robe and square cap briskly walked out of it. It was Cardinal the Sage. Concurrently, a small black spider leapt off my head, ‘Bofun!’, morphing into her Onee-san mode mid-air with a cloud of smoke.

This time, Cardinal was led to the chair just to the right of the Supreme Priest. They were so close that they could basically touch each other if they were to just extend their hands——meaning that they were in range to use arts on one another. ‘I’ve gotta butt in if it looks like things are getting hairy!’, or at least that’s what I would like to do, but my seat was next to the one (Charlotte’s) that was next to the one on Cardinal’s right (Scheta-sensei’s), thus I was a bit too far off.

The seat at Administrator’s side not occupied by Cardinal, which is to say the one on her left, was taken up by the hawk-helmet knight whom I knew so little about that even his name eluded me, thus I instead turned to Alice next to him, attempting to send her a “I’m counting on you if anything happens!” signal with my gaze, though I wasn’t quite sure if she actually got the message.

Seeing as Mr. Hawk-Helmet was sitting closer to the head of the table than Alice, who ranked third among the Integrity Knights, this would imply that he was either ranked second or first, but thenKnight Commander Bercouli Synthesis One had to be the one ranked first, in which case, perhaps this knight was the one that Corsche and the others mentioned in our conversation last night……

As my thoughts reached that point, the Central Cathedral’s time bell solemnly played the melody for noon.

“Well then, shall we begin.”

In response to Administrator’s words, Alice took to serving tea for the people closer to the head of the table, while the Elevating Operator did the same for the people closer to the foot. During every discussion, the big moment for the cakes always arrived when the discussions had already settled down to some extent, thus Eugeo and I placed the transportation boxes on the nearby trolley. The boxes are stuffed with ice made from freezing elements, thus there were no concerns about the Life of the cakes decreasing for the time being.

Once the nine of us, excluding the hawk-helmet knight, took a sip of the tea, Administrator was the first to get the ball rolling on the dialogue.

“So? Dark Knight Lipia-chan, what business brought you flying to the Human Empire?”

There was no one at the table with any particular reaction to the phrase ‘Dark Knight’. The Integrity Knights were briefed on the whole thing beforehand as a matter of course, I presume, while Cardinal was informed by Charlotte as well. I do get the feeling that this was news to the Elevating Operator, but there wasn’t a single change to her face even after she learnt that the knight sitting just to her right was a resident of the Land of Darkness as she continued adding sugar to her black tea with some Siral for aroma.

Meanwhile, I felt like I was on pins and needles. The same probably applied to Eugeo.

When she first gave her name at the Great Eastern Gate yesterday, Dark Knight Lipia had said, “I have come to this land bearing a decree from my lord.”

Although it appears that this order of hers didn’t involve assassination or sabotage, I don’t really get the impression that this conversation will be going all that smoothly, seeing as Lipia’s lord was some bigwig from the Dark Territory known as the 《Dark General》 or whatever the title was. After all, his title was ‘Dark General’…… in the worst case scenario, it was even possible that the people of the Land of Darkness got tired of waiting for the Great Eastern Gate to collapse and had thus sent us a declaration of war already.

As I held my breath for how this would play out, Lipia gently placed her teacup onto the saucer and then straightened up.

“——Supreme Priest-dono, first I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your graciousness in healing the wounds of my dragon, Miokake, as well as bestowing some water and food for him. I had checked on my dragon this morning and found that he had entirely regained his vitality, it seems.”

“That’s only natural, my capable grooms were the ones looking after it all this time, after all.”

Bowing her head in silence at Administrator’s words, Lipia straightened up her posture once again. After a light cough, as if having made up her resolve—— “On that note, I will hereby convey the words entrusted to me by my lord, Vixur Ul Shasta, to the Supreme Priest-dono, as well as the honourable Integrity Knights present here. ——As the representative for the alliance between Dark General Shasta and the boss of the Merchants Guild, Rengil Gila Scobo, I would like to hereby request negotiations for reconciliation with the Axiom Church that rules over the Human Empire.”

Twenty minutes past six o’clock in the afternoon.

Having returned to our room utterly drained, Eugeo and I plopped down onto the sofa without energy to spare for even the simple action of getting changed, whereupon we turned to each other’s shoulders for support as our muscles lost their tone.

This exhaustion came about because Scheta-sensei had worked us to death for an entire four hours, firm and proper, after the tea party ended at two in the afternoon. Since the talks had been chaotic to an unprecedented degree, I was so sure we’d be let off the hook from our afternoon practice, but according to Scheta-sensei, “This and that are entirely different matters”, apparently.

Although the message entrusted to Dark Knight Lipia was, shockingly, one of 《peace》, it was mainly Mr. Hawk-Helmet’s fault that the discussion had become so chaotic. As I had predicted, the guy behind the hawk was the second-ranked Integrity Knight, Fanatio Synthesis Two-san——the Vice Knight Commander that had once given Hatoa a mysterious piece of sweets long, long ago——yet this knight seemed to be seething with immense hostility towards this Dark General Shasta character for some reason, seeing as he was on the verge of drawing his sword in the heat of the moment upon asserting that “Reconciliation negotiations are unfeasible!”

While I found myself incapable of doing anything other than internally muttering “Awawawawa”, I noticed that the Supreme Priest was giving me a signal with her eyes, so I mustered up my courage and stood up. Barely fending off the aura seething with a thirst for blood that Vice Knight Commander Fanatio was giving off, I first took off the lid from the shortcake with a double serving of strawberries, had Scheta-sensei cut it up into ten equal slices as usual, and then delivered everyone’s shares in front of them, at which point the Supreme Priest said the following.

——‘Fanatio-chan, you can’t eat without taking your helmet off. If you don’t want it, I’d be more than happy to take it for myself.’

“……Man, oh man…… I’m sure glad that the Vice Knight Commander decided to eat some cake……”

As I muttered this while remembering the prim beauty of the face that belonged to Fanatio, who turned out to actually be a woman, Eugeo also gave a deep nod to my remark while leaning against my right shoulder.

“True that……Looks like you were right, Kirito, it was a good call to serve the slice with the most ginormous and glossy strawberry to the Esteemed Vice Knight Commander.”

“The head chef had this to say about that strawberry: 『Ya’d be hard-pressed ta find even a single strawberry this good after inspecting a thousand strawberries』, after all. Though I was getting some cold sweat at the possibility that the Supreme Priest would complain, 『I want that one』, at that point……”

“Haha, surely she wouldn’t have…… wait, now that I think about it, I did get the feeling that she had been staring at it motionlessly……”

As he muttered this, Eugeo’s head slowly slid down from my shoulder to my chest, eventually landing on my lap. He went on to close his eyes afterwards, so I was beginning to fear that he was planning to just fall asleep like that, but then he opened his mouth once again.

“……Kirito, do you think that it’s feasible? To achieve peace……with the Land of Darkness.”

I took some time to digest those words, uttered in a faint whisper, inside my mind.

Avoiding the final showdown against the Dark Territory, that is to say, the 《Final Load Test》. This was the ultimate mission bestowed upon me by Cardinal and Administrator.

When I was riding her dragon Yukiori with her, the Supreme Priest had said the following to me.

——Just like you had me form a truce with Cardinal, find a way to do something about the Dark Territory invasion. The Integrity Knights exist for two reasons…… the first is to kill Cardinal, the other is to repel the forces of darkness. If both of these reasons ceased to exist, I’d have no need to increase the number of knights anymore.

Honestly, as I am right now, I don’t have the combat capabilities to do something about the Dark Territory Army directly. Both my skills with the sword and my Sacred Arts techniques are a far cry from those of the high-ranked knights. So, Lipia’s words do sound like a ray of hope to me——but, the issue is that among the 《Ten Lords of the Land of Darkness》 that reign over the Dark Territory, only a mere two of them desire peace. The other eight of them are eagerly awaiting the collapse of the Great Eastern Gate, particularly the leader of an organisation known as the 《Dark Mages Guild》; ‘she probably wouldn’t approve of peace even if heaven and earth toppled over……’, or so Lipia had mentioned. The winged gargoyle-like monsters that had pursued her to the Great Eastern Gate were apparently unleashed by the Dark Mages in order to assassinate Lipia, or so she claims.

This is to say that if we wanted to actually get down to reconciliation negotiations, we’d have to get the Dark General and the boss of the merchants guild to do something about the warmongers on the Dark Territory side. Though, if persuasion is proving to be this problematic, disposing of them by force would be even more difficult. That’s where ‘We’d like to receive assistance from the Axiom Church——’ comes in. Having finished her slices of the two cakes during this discussion, Dark Knight Lipia Zancale bowed her head as she made this request.

“Hmm~~m……”

A groan came from me as I ruffled Eugeo’s curls with my left hand.

“Based on what Lipia-san has mentioned, there’s heaps of hurdles…… I mean, obstacles getting in our way for that. Though, well, I don’t get the impression that this path is without prospects either.”

At my words, Eugeo opened his eyes. Following a blink of his emerald eyes, he gave a calm smile.

“Yeah, I think so too. After all…… just three years ago, we were just woodcutters in a forest to the south of Rulid. And now look at us: we’re having sword and arts training sessions at the Central Cathedral in the central capital…… in fact, we’re even making cakes for the most eminent individual in the Human Empire, the Esteemed Supreme Priest, every week. No one in Rulid Village would ever believe us if we told them any of this.”

Lifting his left hand, he grabbed the hand I had been using to stroke his head, whereupon he closed his eyes once more——

“That’s why, with the two of us working together, I’m sure that it’s possible. To both establish peace with the Dark Territory, return Alice to her former self…… and to take back your memories as well, Kirito.”

Asserting as such, Eugeo returned his left hand to his stomach.

Before long, I began to hear quiet sleeping breaths. It was almost time for dinner, but there’s nothing wrong with being a bit late today.

Continuing to gently stroke my partner’s head, I turned my gaze outside the window. There were plenty of things to do tomorrow as well. The shipment of apples should have arrived at the Grand Kitchen, thus we’ll have to get started on making our apple tart prototypes for the next rest day, and then there’s that thing about enigmatic brown sweets that we have to ask Vice Knight Commander Fanatio about. If that’s not enough, while eating her piece of the shortcake and cheesecake, Dark Knight Lipia also muttered that they seemed a bit similar to the whats-it sweets from the Dark Territory. She would be staying at the Cathedral for the time being, but I probably should get started on gathering intel from her sooner than later.

“Though……how exactly did I end up baking cakes in another world……”

After I muttered this with a sigh, a thought about making some cakes for Asuna, Suguha, and the others when I get back to the real world someday cropped up in my mind.

6

4 July, 2026; 2:30 PM.

At a room in the headquarters for the National Security Agency (NSA) at Fort Meade in the state of Maryland in the United States of America, there were two men facing each other.

“About the Glowgen Defence Systems’ request to delay the 《A.L.I.C.E. Expropriation Op》……have you figured out the reason behind this action?”

“Yeah. At first, they tried pulling the wool over my eyes with a bunch of random excuses, but when I put the screws on the senior assistant that serves as our point of contact, he spilled the beans alright. As I understand, CTO Gabriel Miller, who serves as the manager for the op, collapsed upon eating some crab cakes at a seafood restaurant and was subsequently hospitalised, apparently.” “Crab cakes? How do you even collapse from something like that?”

“Dunno. Maybe some poisonous crab found its way into the mix?”

(The End)

Notes