Chapter 10

Despite a hundred guards searching for half a day, the body of the kidnapper

was never found.

He had jumped out of the castle from a height of five hundred mels with his

arms cut off. It would have seemed an impossible task to survive such a

situation, but neither Iskahn, Sheyta, nor Kirito intended to assume the bestcase scenario when it came to this incident.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, after the cleanup of the incident inside the

castle had concluded, the four of them gathered in Sheyta and Iskahn's room

again, where the window had since been repaired.

Leazetta was peacefully drinking milk in Sheyta's arms, the horrible ordeal

completely forgotten. The palace's doctor and Sheyta, with her skill in high-level

arts, were very thorough in determining that the baby wasn't under the effects

of any poison or dark arts, thankfully.

On the other hand, they knew next to nothing about the kidnapper himself.

And the biggest mystery of all—how he had opened the window on the fiftieth

floor, which was controlled only by Emperor Vecta—remained unsolved.

"You know…it might be totally unrelated," said Ronie as she sipped an

unfamiliar type of tea that smelled faintly of apples, "but I noticed that when he

opened the window, the large jewel hanging around his neck glowed red."

"Red jewel…?" Kirito repeated. Sheyta looked curious as well. They did not

seem to recognize the concept.

But Iskahn, who was just biting into a large slice of nut pie, frowned and

muttered, "A glowing red jewel…Do you remember the particular shade of red,

Ronie?"

She realized this was the first time the high-ranking man had confidently

called her by name. "It was, um, not very bright…A darker red, the color of the

setting sun or blood," she told him.

"Bloodred…No…it couldn't be..."

"Whoa, Iskahn, you can't just drop a hint like that and leave us hanging! It's

against the rules!" Kirito complained.

"Against what rules…?" Iskahn growled, looking suspicious. But still he

explained, "There was a stone like that embedded in Emperor Vecta's crown

when he arrived before the war. I remember it because it was the only jewel he

wore."

"Vecta's crown…? Then it definitely can't be. The first time he died was in

battle with Commander Bercouli, thousands of kilors to the south of us. When

he came back after that, he wasn't wearing the crown anymore. So whatever he

was wearing the first time would have vanished on that rocky mountain down

south."

"But you didn't see it happen, did you?" Iskahn retorted.

"Well…true…," Kirito murmured.

At the time, Kirito had been in a mentally inactive state. Bercouli and Vecta's

duel to the death had been witnessed only by Alice the Integrity Knight, and she

was no longer present in the Underworld.

Alice had transported Bercouli's body by dragon, and Kirito had taken it from

her at the World's End Altar and delivered it back to the human realm. His

remains now slept beneath a gravestone in the center of the garden in the

southeast corner of the cathedral grounds.

"…True, I didn't perform a search of the place where Bercouli and Vecta

fought. It would be hard to even identify the spot now…," Kirito admitted. He

turned and looked out the window. "But…if it was the jewel's power that

opened and closed the fiftieth-floor window, then you might be right: It could

be Vecta's jewel. That doesn't explain who got it back and how…or who that

man was…You mentioned the assassins guild in the throne room. What's that

organization like?"

Iskahn gulped down his tea in one go and proclaimed with disgust, "Just what

it sounds like: They perform assassinations for a living. They use poisons…The

leader when the ten lords were around was a guy named Fu Za, and he died

when General Shasta tried to stage a rebellion. That was a huge blow to the

guild, and they're not even part of the Council of Five now. I'd almost

completely forgotten about them…But if the guy in the robe is from the

assassins guild, and he's got a minion doing his bidding, we've got a real fishy

situation on our hands…"

"We should do a full investigation on them and the missing dark mages,"

Sheyta instructed.

"Yes," he agreed. "I intend to talk with the knighthood and the commerce

guild, too. I don't want any more nonsense happening in Obsidia."

Kirito leaned forward and suggested, "About that—shouldn't we ask for the

dark mages guild's help? After hearing about what Dee Eye Ell did, I don't

necessarily blame you for giving the dark mages the cold shoulder…but I think

you should try to repair that relationship and get them to guard the palace, too.

With just armed guards, you're too susceptible to dark arts."

"As usual, you have a way of saying just what I don't want to hear," Iskahn

said with a grimace. He shrugged and admitted, "But I guess you have a point. If

all the humans in Obsidia are at one another's throats, we can't expect to solve

any problems with demi-humans…How long are you going to stay here, Kirito?"

This time, it was Iskahn who was leaning forward and Kirito who was backing

away. "I-I'd love to offer you all the help I can…but I'm going back to the human

side tonight. We still haven't solved the problem over there, either…"

"Ah yes; that's true. On the other hand, I haven't been able to properly thank

you for getting Leazetta back for us, and there's so much good food to be

had…"

The sight of Iskahn pursing his lips like a child being deprived of playtime put a

fond smile on Kirito's face that also contained the faintest note of grief.

"Wh-what's that expression for?"

"Oh…you just sounded like an old, old friend of mine, Iskahn. But look, the

meeting's still next month, right? We'll come with a much bigger party next

time."

"You bet! And get your stomach ready; I'll put together a menu of delicacies

that'll make last night's dinner look like nothing… At any rate, you were a huge

boon to have here. I'll never forget this debt I owe you for the rest of my life."

Iskahn stood up and stuck out his hand. Kirito straightened up and clasped it.

From Sheyta's arms, Leazetta giggled and laughed at the sight of them.

After a few hours of sleep in their respective guest rooms, Kirito and Ronie

ate a quick meal and left Obsidia Palace at eight o'clock in the evening.

This time, they didn't need to put anything on their faces or use Incarnation

to fly. Sheyta flew them on Yoiyobi's back to where the dragoncraft was hidden.

Even reserved Sheyta looked stunned when she saw the steel dragon, but she

grasped the capabilities of the dragoncraft right away. She said that she was

looking forward to the day when such things would be mass-produced so that

travel between the human realm and the Dark Territory would become easy.

Then she returned to her home in the castle of obsidian, and Kirito and Ronie

boarded the dragoncraft and flew into the western sky.

When the craft was flying and stable, Kirito exhaled slowly in the front seat

and said, "That Sonic Leap you pulled off to get Leazetta back from the

kidnapper was incredible, Ronie. When did you get so good at it?"

"Huh…I—I don't know. I was just desperate…," she stammered, tracing the

silver hilt of her sword, which was resting between her seat and the wall. "I feel

like…the sword gave me power. I would never be able to jump that distance

under normal circumstances."

"I see…That means it's a good sword."

"I know." Ronie rested back against the seat.

The windshield of the dragoncraft offered a view of the Dark Territory's night

sky as it flew quietly along. The stars were fewer in comparison to the human

realm, but the moon was large and pale, a crescent slice in the sky directly

overhead.

Despite the huge distance between the places we live, the people on both

sides are looking up at the same moon…

At that very moment, she once again had the same eerie feeling that she'd

gotten when she saw the sign on the inn in Obsidia and heard the melody of the

bell tower. And this time, Ronie knew what it was.

"Um…Kirito?"

"What is it?"

"Why do the human realm and the dark realm both use the same words and

letters? There was almost no communication between the two worlds from the

very birth of the Underworld, so you would think they'd have completely

different languages…"

It was something she'd never second-guessed before, but now that she had

seen some of the great wide world for herself, she wanted to know the reason

why it worked that way.

The swordsman from the real world was silent for a while. Eventually, he said,

"Let's see…The real-worlders who created this place wanted the two realms to

fight each other, so it should have been more convenient for their purposes to

have the two worlds use completely different languages. After all, if you can't

understand each other, you can never find understanding and make peace. But

they—or something aside from the real-worlders—intentionally shared the

same language between them. I don't know the reason why. But it's possible

that it was for the purpose of bringing about a world that managed to move

beyond hostility and fighting..."

Ronie found it hard to understand what he was saying. But she chose to keep

thinking about it, rather than ask him to elaborate further.

The moon in the sky was another huge sphere, just like their world, Kirito had

said. That was why it glowed with the light from Solus and waxed and waned.

If people lived on the moon, they would see the earth, where Ronie lived, as

another glowing crescent. Would the people of the moon speak the same

language, too? Like the people here, would they make many regrettable

mistakes and shed blood but still do their best and wish for a better world?

The crescent moon above felt like a cradle capable of nurturing much life

now. She reached up toward it.

But soon, she dropped her hand back to the hilt of her sword. "Um, Kirito?"

"Hmm…?"

"I've decided on a name for my weapon. I'll call it the Moon…the Moonbeam

Sword."

"I see. That's a good name. I'm sure it will protect you well," he said. She

flashed a bright smile and agreed, then wiped away tears that had come to her

eyes unbidden.

I want to see Tiese, she realized. I want to go to my friend trapped between

love for the late Eugeo and the proposal from Renly and tell her the things I

learned and considered on this journey.

Somehow, Kirito seemed to sense this desire of hers, because he picked up

the speed of the dragoncraft just a bit.

Like that, the steel dragon flew on and on to the west, gleaming in the pale

moonlight.