✦ ✦ ✦
“…Uncle…,” Alice whimpered, still clinging to his shoulder. I turned away, considering what the man’s words meant.
This Prime Senator Chudelkin was the one who’d placed the Deep Freeze command on Bercouli and taken Eugeo away. That much was certain, because, in a spot not far from the frozen Bercouli, there was a square shaft carved out of the ice all the way down to the floor, as though cut by an electric saw. Eugeo must have used his ice roses’ power expecting to go down and take the commander with him, but then the prime senator came along, cut him entirely out of the ice, and took him up to Administrator’s chamber at the top of the tower.
I had to wonder what this “labyrinth of memories” meant, though. I didn’t like to think about Eugeo being handily brainwashed, but I also had no idea what sort of methods Administrator would use to manipulate his fluctlight directly.
I peered down the square hole and saw, just through the perfectly smooth sides, something shining. I crouched down to see a longsword plunged into the floor of the bath. Even through several inches of ice, I would never mistake that beautiful curve. It was the Blue Rose Sword.
That striking weapon was practically a part of Eugeo; the sight of it left behind under thick ice only made me more worried. I glanced back at Alice, who was still clinging to Bercouli, then drew my black sword and stuck the tip into the ice directly above the Blue Rose Sword. For just an instant, I pushed down.
The ice cracked, split vertically, and crumbled into the shaft nearby. I knelt and squeezed the exposed handle of the Blue Rose Sword, then pulled, wincing against the sensation of well-below-zero-degrees metal on my skin. It resisted a bit, then slid out silently, scattering ice fragments.
I stood up, black sword in my right hand and Blue Rose Sword in my left, and felt my joints buckle with the extra weight. No wonder, since I was holding two very high-priority Divine Objects, but I wasn’t going to complain. Ronie and Tiese, our trainee pages, had worked their palms bloody carrying these swords to Eugeo and me before we were taken to the cathedral.
Now it was my turn to take this sword to Eugeo.
A familiar white leather sheath was on the frosted ice surface nearby. With my sword at my side, I picked up the sheath and placed Eugeo’s sword in it. After a little more thought, I then attached the second sheath to my belt on the right side, balancing the weight so I could still move reasonably well.
I exhaled and turned around to find Alice up on her feet. She rubbed the moisture on her cheek with her sleeve and, to hide her embarrassment, grumbled, “The only person mad enough to carry two swords would be some peacock of an elite noble…but oddly enough, it seems to suit you.”
“Hmm? Oh…”
I couldn’t help but grimace. During SAO, my lifeline as a solo player was my flashy Dual Blades style, but I’d hidden that skill for so long, I still felt anxious about showing off a two-sword approach in front of others.
Or maybe that wasn’t entirely it. Perhaps I was somehow afraid—even sick—of the ostentatious description of Dual-Bladed Kirito, the hero who’d beaten the Game of Death. I never wanted to take on that particular role again, no matter what anyone said about me.
“…Yeah, but I can’t actually swing two swords at once,” I told her with a shrug.
Alice nodded as if this were obvious. “If you swing two swords, there is no way to execute a proper ultimate technique. In that sense alone, there is little reason to ever wield two swords at once. Anyway, if the sword is still here, then we ought to assume that the pontifex has apprehended Eugeo already. We ought to hurry; she is not bound by typical logic…”
“Have you…spoken with Administrator before?”
“Only once,” she answered, lips pursed. “It was six years ago, after I woke up as an apprentice Integrity Knight with no memory, facing my summoner, and God’s proxy in the mortal world, the church pontifex. She was very beautiful and fragile, not the kind of person who has ever held a sword…but her eyes…”
She clutched her own shoulders. “Her eyes were silver and reflective, like a mirror…I didn’t realize it at the time, but now I do: I was terrified of her. It was an absolute kind of fear, the sort that told me I should never defy her or doubt a word she said, and instead I should offer her my everything.”
“Alice…,” I murmured, feeling momentary disquiet.
But she sensed what I was thinking, took a deep breath, and raised her head to look at me. “I am fine. I’ve made up my mind. For the sake of my sister living in the far north…for my unfamiliar family, and for all the citizens of the realm, I must do what I believe is right. Uncle knew about the eye seal that we all bear. That tells me that Bercouli Synthesis One, leader of the Integrity Knights, did not blindly believe that the Axiom Church’s reign was entirely good. Our trek down here to get your partner was a failure, but I’m glad that I saw Uncle…I know that my heart is firm and in the right place now.”
She crouched and caressed Bercouli’s stone cheek, lingering no more than an instant before she turned away, striding purposefully over the ice in the direction we had come. “Let’s hurry. We may need to battle the prime senator before we have a chance to face the pontifex herself.”
“W-wait…are we just going to leave the commander like that?” I asked, trotting to catch up.
Alice glared at me with her good eye and snapped, “Either we will truss up Prime Senator Chudelkin to make him undo the sacred art…or we will cut him in two and solve the matter that way.”
As I struggled to walk with the weight of two swords, I realized I never wanted to make an enemy of this knight again.
✦ ✦ ✦
We raced back up the five flights of stairs, dealing with extra gravity this time, and stopped when we made it back to the Morning Star Lookout. I was wheezing with the effort of lugging the Blue Rose Sword, but the Integrity Knight was largely unaffected, despite wearing so much armor that her weight couldn’t be far from mine. With her frosty-blue eye and snow-white skin, she faced the next staircase with determination.
“Listen to me as you catch your breath. The senators are not much more than simple civilians when it comes to using weapons in short-range combat, but their sacred arts authority is higher than ours. Even in this resource-scarce environment, they can use the catalyst crystals from the Rose Garden to unleash practically unlimited long-range attacks.”
“Enemies like that…you need to…sneak up, then stick close,” I wheezed between breaths.
“We can’t be bothered with personal dignity now,” Alice agreed. “If we can successfully approach without detection, that would be best, but there is no guarantee of that. If that plan fails, I will use my sword’s Perfect Control to block their sacred arts, and then you can charge them.”
“So I’m the suicide-charge guy…,” I lamented, recalling how much I hated dealing with mage-type enemies.
Alice arched her eyebrow and offered sarcastically, “We can switch roles, if you prefer. But you will be in charge of blocking their sacred arts.”
“Fine, fine, I’ll do it.”
My black sword was still recovering its life value, and I wasn’t sure whether it had enough for a good Perfect Control use. If possible, I preferred to save that for a fight against the pontifex. My sword’s ultimate power was a fairly simple one—summoning a giant spear of darkness—that excelled in power, but it didn’t have the varied effects Alice’s flower storm did.
“If I feel like it, I might favor you with a recovery art from behind,” Alice said generously. “You may cause as much damage as you wish, but make sure that Prime Senator Chudelkin survives. If my memory is accurate, he will look like a small man in bright-red-and-blue clown clothes.”
“…That…does not sound very…dignified.”
“But you must not underestimate him on account of it. In addition to his powerful Deep Freeze ability, he has a number of speedy and powerful arts. He is likely the most powerful caster in the Church, after the pontifex.”
“Yeah, I get it. It’s pretty much a quest cliché that the little silly-looking guys end up being the toughest enemies.”
Alice briefly shot me a suspicious look, then turned her face to the staircase and announced, “Let’s go.”