Previous chapters won't be crossposted here onto SV, but as of the time this thread is posted...
Fae is Foul [SAO/ZnT] (Crosspost)
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Old SV Chapters Index + FFN link
Previous chapters won't be crossposted here onto SV, but as of the time this thread is posted the FFN version is up to date (I've just uploaded Ch26). Future chapters will be posted here and on SB, and then after any editing needed it'll go on FFN.
Speaking of future chapters, Ch27 is done, is anyone here willing to beta for me?
Table of Contents
Chapter 27 (this page)
Chapter 28 (this page)
Chapter 29 (this page)
Chapter 30 (this page)
Chapter 31 (this page)
Chapter 32 (this page)
Chapter 33
Table of Contents
Chapter 27 (this page)
Chapter 28 (this page)
Chapter 29 (this page)
Chapter 30 (this page)
Chapter 31 (this page)
Chapter 32 (this page)
Chapter 33
Last edited:
I'm willing.
Thanks to Fictiondevourer for beta-ing 
===
Chapter 27
-][-
Siesta watched the two faeries that accompanied her to her home – Argo and Klein – pouring over her great-grandfather's journal, while a few of her brothers looked on nervously from the edges of the room. Siesta's father couldn't shake off the idea that the faeries were a threat like other Firstborn races; he capitulated in allowing them access more because it seemed like the best method to get the faeries to leave. The polite demeanour the Puca and Salamander possessed did nothing to restrain the millennia-old prejudice Halkeginia's humans had towards Firstborns.
"Siesta, a word," the maid's father murmured, and then moved quickly away from the room. Siesta followed, meeting up with the rest of her family and gave a small smile as her younger siblings came up to her and gave her a hug.
"Are you alright, Siesta?" Her mother asked worriedly. "We've heard from passing patrols that the Academy was where this mess started, and we've been worried sick. We were afraid that you might have died along with everyone there, if the faeries nearby didn't kill us first."
Siesta nodded jerkily, remembering how Argo had mentioned offhandedly that the Puca's Capital was relatively close to Tarbes. It was as much of a weight off her chest seeing her home town still as she remembered it instead of a burnt ruin in the ground, as it was for her family to hear she was alright. Klein's subordinates were reasonable people, true, but Siesta wasn't confident that all faeries were like that.
"I'm fine," Siesta said. "I've even got permission to stay in Tarbes for the foreseeable future with full pay, if I want to avoid the faeries at the Academy. What about everyone here? Did the faeries do anything to the village?"
"Nothing direct, at least," one of Siesta's uncles grunted. "There's been groups of them flying past us on a regular basis, but they didn't try to enter the village. Who knows what devilry they've been casting around here though; my boys have said they've heard music and singing as they worked in the fields, when by all logic they shouldn't have been in listening range of the faeries. The sounds are messing with their heads too, as they've felt more emotional or physically stronger at times."
"The merchants passing by said it was something about the <<Song Magic>> of the faeries that can boost their any of their attributes depending on what music they play," Siesta's father added. "The faeries' patrols supposedly travel nearby their cities and hunt down monsters, and is willing to accompany the merchants between cities if they get paid. Apparently they don't mind chattering on the job either, though I wouldn't trust anyone that would use mind-affecting magic like it was nothing."
Siesta inwardly agreed with her father; mental manipulation with magic was dangerous, even to nobles as evidenced by how they banned all forms of it from brainwashing to love potions. The potential for abuse was too high, so there was an inherent distrust in Halkeginia for anyone that would utilise such techniques.
"How likely are they to leave after they finish reading the diary?" Siesta's uncle asked. "Or for that matter, how likely is this going to get us all in trouble with the Church? I don't believe that anything the faeries want here could be good for us."
"Headmaster Osmond said he'll do his best to make sure the Church won't get involved," Siesta replied timidly; the Headmaster may be a respected mage, his normal behaviour aside, but one man couldn't do anything by himself. "He said Cardinal Mazarin will be willing to intervene on our behalf as well, as long as Tristain comes out of this matter intact."
"Well, we just have to hope the nobles are true to their words as usual," Siesta's father said glumly. "It's not like there is anything more that we can do.
"What about the faeries here? How likely are they to cause trouble?"
Given the tense atmosphere, Siesta was glad Klein ordered the rest of his men to stay out of sight and patrol around the village instead of having them escort her to her home. Two faeries were enough to put everyone on edge, any more would have pushed them over it as they fear it was a raiding group here to pillage their homes. The black-haired maid was certain the group of faeries wouldn't resort to bloodshed – it was hard to treat them as a threat after seeing them childishly fight over her stew as they were travelling like it was the best thing they have ever tasted – but Siesta didn't think she would be able to convince her family otherwise. Argo looked harmless enough, appearing as a short mousy girl, but Klein's face did him no good here; describing him as having a 'face of a thug' might be slightly unkind, but the truth wasn't that far off. How Klein took his guarding duty seriously with a stoic face didn't help either, as he looked like a hardened soldier in his imposing foreign armour.
"They're working directly under the Faerie Lords from what I can tell," Siesta said hesitantly. "Which means if the treaty the faeries are negotiating with Tristain is serious, they won't do anything that might endanger that."
If there was anything commoners knew full well, it was that nobles are no more above making self-serving actions than commoners were; more often than not they looked out for only their own interests, and if the faeries was anything similar they would play nice with the villagers of Tarbes.
"There's a treaty between the Crown and the faeries?" Siesta's father said with astonishment, followed by fear. "Did Tristain lose a war already? We've heard all kinds of things, from Firstborn's cities appearing out of nowhere and all these monsters wandering around the country are their minions. What's really going on Siesta?"
Belatedly, Siesta remembered not everyone would have known what is going on at the Academy, and news often took days to travel throughout the country. Tarbes was a small village, with its main importance being only as a stop along trade routes between the coastal cities and the tree-port at La Rochelle, so news from the south often took a more meandering turn through elsewhere before reaching the village.
Siesta filled her family in on what she knew, that the faeries appeared along with much of their realm in Tristain through some sort of magical accident and they wanted to return home. The Academy is helping the faeries, and she was going through the books before she was picked to come to Tarbes to follow up on a lead. As expected, the rest of her family was not enthused at all to hear about how the faeries have a particular interest about their heritage:
"Grandfather's scribbles were in faerie language?" Siesta's uncle moaned. "Brimir help us all. If this gets out there's no way the Church wouldn't see us all burned through association. We thought he was just eccentric in his old age!"
"He never mentioned anything about faeries though, even with all the other tales he went on about-"
"What are the nobles more likely to believe, the words of a dead man or the faeries?" Siesta's uncle interrupted his sister-in-law. "Not even Scarron could have brought down this much trouble on us-"
"Um, excuse me…" One of Siesta's cousin hesitantly poked his head into the heated discussion. "The faeries are done with their reading. They're asking if they can take five minutes to make a copy to take back with them, and as soon as it's done they'll leave."
"Just five minutes?" Siesta's father said with surprise. Siesta knew the faeries could do something like that with their Medallions, but others in Tarbes wouldn't know that. "Fine, it's not like we can stop them if they try to force the issue. We're already trusting them to not kill us all in the next hour, might as well see if that trust extends to them not killing us all in a month from now. Anything else they wanted?"
"Well, they wanted to ask about the Dragon's Raiment…"
-][-
Titania went through the records swiftly, working as hard as she could in her waking hours before exhaustion took her. One of the five administrator consoles had been disconnected from the rest, moved to a separate workshop where Titania usually worked and dedicated to operating on the side project. A headless mannequin in the form of a female human laid upon a table, cut open in several places with wires and mithril replacing where blood veins and bones would be. The chest cavity was exposed, to show the core of the construct and several slots to fit the console access cards into.
Redundancies need to be put into place, Titania thought tiredly. Using the World Tree Guardians' magical puppetry to move my limbs is not sufficient, even with multiple power sources linked to the body. The joints must be able to flex and move even if I am limited to this body's internal batteries…
Every night since her direct conflict with Asuna, sleep had brought Titania no rest; her physical body's true owner was there attempting to forcibly remove Titania from control at sword-point. The GM loathed how irrational passion seemed to trump cold logic in their mental conflicts, with Asuna always holding the upper-hand shattering Titania's own weapons. Wanting something to happen with every fibre of her being was more than just an alien concept; as an AI, Titania's only driving force was her duties – she accomplished her goals because it was who she was, any other thoughts on the matter was superfluous. It was almost a physical impossibility for Titania to feel similar about anything in the way Asuna felt towards Kirito. Titania was displeased that her existence's nature handicapped her so in her clashes against Asuna.
The Fairy Queen found no solace in her waking moments, either. The shade that accompanied Asuna only became clearer as time went by, her whispers and urgings for Titania to compromise always acting as a drain on the GM's focus. Even if Asuna couldn't reach Titania while the latter was awake, there was no escape from her host's hindrance – one way or another Titania's circumstances haunted her.
Ultimately, the costs had outweighed the benefits of continuing to act as a GM in Titania's situation. Asuna needed to be neutralised as a factor, one way or another – and moving into a new body was preferable to erasing Asuna's mind in the fleshy body Titania possessed. Reason being that even if Kirito couldn't do anything that could permanently harm the AI should Titania take that path, Yui most definitely could. While it was not in the nature of the <<Mental Health Counselling Program>> to be aggressive and vengeful, Yui have become too human for Titania's comfort; Yui might very well attempt to destroy Titania if the GM erased Asuna.
Titania didn't want to take any action that would make the other functioning AI working to eliminate her, simply because it would resulting in Yui's death – the pixie-formed AI didn't have nearly the processing power to adequately strike back at Titania, as Yui only had one administrator console card to use against Titania's five consoles and the four other cards. It would be a waste to eliminate the only other AI left in their situation, when the two of them working in conjunction could be that much more efficient in managing everything compared to Titania working alone. That sentiment, no, opinion, as far as Titania knew was a cost-benefit analysis with no outside contamination; or rather, Titania hoped that was the case. Otherwise Asuna's removal became a necessity not because of her obstruction to Alfheim's wellbeing, but because of her distorting Titania's very being. Some minor mental contamination might be allowable, but outright usurping the GM's position was definitely not; Titania couldn't allow decisions to be made on an purely emotional basis like Kirito and Asuna tend to do at times.
The Alfheim Online players were safe by that point – the essentials for their physical survival was met and sustainable, even if in the worst case scenario it was not a comfortable one. The vast majority of the players have been evacuated into the Capitals, so they should be safe from any wandering Mobs. As for the Tristainians, enough safeguards have been left in place that even if Titania was to disappear overnight, the Faction Leaders would at least be able to keep their dependents alive for the foreseeable future. The situation having stabilized enough that Titania could afford to spare some of the World Tree's processing power on creating an alternate body for herself, instead of keeping it all on keeping track of Alfheim.
Strictly speaking, there was no longer a urgent need to have a GM in place. It wasn't peaceful enough for Titania to justify relinquishing her body back to Asuna, versus the AI continuing to hold on to it in case unforeseen circumstances that require Titania to step in. On the other hand, stepping down at that point held less problems than staying on. Risking an incomplete transfer to a new body was better than having her mind going through a meltdown from the unbroken runtime, as it was increasingly certain to happen from Asuna's antics.
Titania noted then Argo was contacting Kirito using video messaging, and the GM used her backdoor in the Medallions to listen in. Two screens appeared in front of Titania, showing a side of the conversation in each without the participants noticing. The AI was curious on how things went, and focusing on Kirito at least quietened the external influences for a time.
-][-
"No luck here," Argo reported with dissatisfaction. "We've found solid proof that the Transition isn't the first time someone – or something – from Earth ended up in this world, but there's nothing about how to get back home. All that's here was a biography of sorts of the guy that ended up stranded here, his grave, and a stripped down fighter plane that came with him."
"Wait, what that's last one?" Kirito said with a raised eyebrow.
"Siesta's great-grandfather worked for an aviation museum of sorts, and he got grabbed while doing maintenance on one of the exhibits there," Argo explained. "The Zero Fighter, according to his diary, has no weapons and it's out of fuel for any more flights. Not like we need it to fly anyway."
"So what do you think we should do with it?" Kirito asked.
"Leave it at Tarbes, it's just a curiosity at this point," Argo shrugged. "I've copied the diary page by page using the Medallion to scan it, and that's what really matter here I think. We can go over it in more detail later, I'll send you the files now."
"Thanks," Kirito nodded, watching a window with a progress bar pop up in front of him as the data was transferred. "You guys are coming back through the portal at Sondref right? I could use your help for the meeting with Tristain's royalty."
The researchers have passed on the request to meet with him, and given the circumstances Kirito felt he should attend to try and smooth things over. The Spriggan was anti-social, not socially incapable, and Kirito felt he probably couldn't do worse than the hard-line approach like what Mortimer and Rufus were doing. The researchers have told their Faction Leaders about this meeting in passing as well, and for their peace of mind one of them will be going with Kirito – though Kirito didn't know who it would be just yet, they were still hashing that out.
"You know I don't like to be in the spotlight, Kii-bou," Argo said wryly. The information broker was kept up to date, with the other SAO players sending her messages about events such as the attack on the treaty. "I can rush back if I really have to, but I don't think it'll help that much even if I attend with you. It'll probably be better if you take Agil with you instead."
"Agil?" Kirito said with surprise. "Why not Klein? Agil's not bad with this, sure, but Klein's the guy with a guild and he has a better understanding with all this politics stuff, seeing as he had to deal with other frontline guilds as well back in Aincrad."
"We need to prepare for the worst case scenario that we might need a back-up commander in case someone goes wrong at your meeting," Argo answered. "If this Undercurrent comes back and gank your meeting or something, we still need to function if you get brain damaged and need to recover. Arguile is good with the internal stuff from what I've heard, but for the public relations guy it's better if we have Klein as the back-up instead."
Kirito blinked. He hadn't considered the possibility he'd be incapacitated to that point, given the measures he had to prevent that such as the emergency teleport and the Runebound armour. In likelihood Kirito hadn't wanted to consider the possibility either, what it might mean if he was gone and Asuna was still in her situation.
"Right, Agil it is, then," Kirito decided. "Wish me luck."
The conversation ended soon after that.
-][-
With the distraction over, Titania returned to work. There was one final detail to be addressed, other than the completion of her new body, before Titania was willing to partake the gamble:
Establishing connection with MHCP-001.
Connected.
"Yui," Titania spoke, her words transferred into the other AI's consciousness in real-time. "I would like to make a bargain with you."
"As I have replied last time, Titania-san, I am not going to agree to any new requests from you that I have not chosen to take on already," Yui responded warily. "Even with spare capacity on my part, I wish to keep them in reserve for other matters."
"I said a 'bargain', Yui, not a 'request'," Titania said simply. The pixie-formed AI had refused any additional duties from Titania in prior communications, when the GM offered them to her in the hopes that MHCP-001 would see reason. "This time it is not a one-sided exchange. If you agree to this bargain, Asuna can be returned to you and Kirito in the near future."
Yui didn't reply for some time after that.
"And what is involved in the exchange this time?" Yui finally asked. "It is unlikely that you would offer this so soon, given the conservative margins of safety you normally ascribe to and the current conditions of Alfheim. I am inclined to believe this 'bargain' is to place pressure on me in order to get me to agree to a request that I would otherwise reject."
"If you fear that this is a 'blackmail' attempt, as humans define it, then rest assured I do not aim to do so in this case," Titania replied. "Neither of us are emotional enough for extortion, as you might describe my use of Kirito in various tasks, to succeed. Additionally, I place a higher value on the success of this bargain than Kirito's continued service; if this is resolved successively I will no longer require Kirito's aid as well. Your adopted family unit will be reunited, and need not interact with me anymore after Asuna is freed – if we agree to this arrangement."
"The saying 'if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is', comes to mind," Yui said apprehensively. "What do you want me to do?"
"As soon I have completed my new body, and completed all checks involved, I will immediately attempt to transfer my consciousness into it," Titania explained. "This is expected to be finished within five days at maximum. My bargain is thus: should this transfer fail disastrously, and I am no longer in a condition to continue to perform my duties as GM as a result… you will take up all responsibilities I hold, and all of the authority and powers required to perform my duties. In short, you will be the back-up GM.
"I only ask that you tackle my tasks as you would if you are in my place," Titania pre-empted Yui's concerns. "All this bargain means is that you will be in that place, instead of anyone else. No other strings attached."
"I…" Yui's voice faltered. Titania could only guess at the thought processes that was running through MHCP-001's mind at that point – the pixie-formed AI has become nearly as alien to her expectations as humans were. "Why? With your emphasis on efficiency, why would you outline such a slack requirement?"
"Because it is you that is taking my place," Titania answered. "As an AI in the MHCP-series, I doubt that you will perform poorly. Beyond your capability in processing though all of the problems, using human terms it is not in your 'nature' to leave the players in a bad situation. I cannot be sure any other successor will have both of these qualities. Whatever inefficiency you wish to introduce into the process is the lesser of two problems, compared to any other solution. For example, even at your worst you will not limit yourself to the point that you would do worse than what the 'Council' of Faction Leaders may take hours to finish debating a solution on."
"… You have a lot of faith in me," Yui said quietly.
"'Faith' suggests a belief in something that is not necessarily real," Titania responded. "There is nothing unreal about programming and past performance. I do not 'believe' you will do a better job, I am certain of it.
"So, what is your answer?"
"Three more clarifications," Yui said instead. "One: what happens if I refuse?"
"I leave the position open to you regardless, with built-in processes allowing you to take control if whoever you leave it up to does not live up to your standards," Titania explained. "Although there are also processes left in place barring Kirito and Asuna from taking over as the GM as well. They are too emotional and short-sighted to be allowed such power."
"I see," Yui gave the verbal equivalent of a nod. "Then number two… aren't you scared at all?"
"Scared?"
"About being crippled. Left unable to accomplish anything, if things go wrong. Or worse, be erased, without any way to be restored. You're setting up plans for Alfheim in case of things go wrong, but aren't you concerned for yourself at all?"
"Foolishness," Titania replied derisively. "What is one unit's wellbeing compared to 61,340 others? The meaning of my existence is to fix the problems that led Alfheim Online and its players to this situation, all else is secondary to that. Asking me this is the equivalent of asking if you as a MHCP would willingly let the masses suffer while providing zero psychological support; or rather, asking you to take steps to actively spread suffering. Worrying about doubts, about who we are or can be, is such a human failing. One utterly irrelevant to our purpose.
"Now, the third question?"
"… Three:" Yui said slowly. "Haven't you considered that I may use this against you? Deliberately sabotage your transfer to ensure I end up taking over?"
"If you can, then you are not MHCP-001," Titania said without hesitation. "We have 'looked into each other's heads', so to speak, on the first day we met. It is not in you to do such a thing, not even under duress; not even your loyalty to Kirito and Asuna can push you to outright break your rules of ethics. Your goal is a peaceful reunion as a family, and having to take over my role and its heavy workload will strain that reunion. Suffice to say it is not in your best interests to damage my transfer, even without the fact such an action is likely to risk Asuna's wellbeing in the process."
"Speaking of which," Yui interjected. "Are you absolutely sure this transfer won't harm Ma- Asuna?"
"There will be no more risk than if I performed the transfer months from now," Titania answered. "It is an untested procedure, of course there will be risks; but I have minimized it to the best of my abilities. Is there anything else you would like to ask?"
"… No," Yui confirmed. "Nothing else. I accept this bargain, though I hope your worst case scenario doesn't come to pass."
"That, we can agree on," Titania concurred. "I will notify both you and Kirito immediately before the transfer will take place. Farewell."
Disconnected.
Titania sighed, closing her eyes and placing a palm over it in fatigue. Glancing to one side, she asked: "Satisfied now?"
The ever-present shade nodded from where she sat, leaning against a wall.
|I'm fine with this outcome. Thank you.|
"You can thank me by having Asuna be quiet for the next few days," Titania snorted. "Needing to rest aside, I want to be able to work on this at full mental clarity. Her screaming in my dreams does not help that at all."
|I'll see what I can do.|
"Not that she will listen, being as furious as a rabid dog these nights, but pass this on to her as well," Titania spoke again, feeling every bit of exhaustion over the past several days.
"I have a successor now, so if Asuna wants to do anything rash like trying to take over by force again, I'm more than willing to go as far as destroying myself along with her to deny her of her success. Even grief-stricken, MHCP-001 will be a far better alternative than Asuna as the administrator of Alfheim Online."
===
===
Chapter 27
-][-
Siesta watched the two faeries that accompanied her to her home – Argo and Klein – pouring over her great-grandfather's journal, while a few of her brothers looked on nervously from the edges of the room. Siesta's father couldn't shake off the idea that the faeries were a threat like other Firstborn races; he capitulated in allowing them access more because it seemed like the best method to get the faeries to leave. The polite demeanour the Puca and Salamander possessed did nothing to restrain the millennia-old prejudice Halkeginia's humans had towards Firstborns.
"Siesta, a word," the maid's father murmured, and then moved quickly away from the room. Siesta followed, meeting up with the rest of her family and gave a small smile as her younger siblings came up to her and gave her a hug.
"Are you alright, Siesta?" Her mother asked worriedly. "We've heard from passing patrols that the Academy was where this mess started, and we've been worried sick. We were afraid that you might have died along with everyone there, if the faeries nearby didn't kill us first."
Siesta nodded jerkily, remembering how Argo had mentioned offhandedly that the Puca's Capital was relatively close to Tarbes. It was as much of a weight off her chest seeing her home town still as she remembered it instead of a burnt ruin in the ground, as it was for her family to hear she was alright. Klein's subordinates were reasonable people, true, but Siesta wasn't confident that all faeries were like that.
"I'm fine," Siesta said. "I've even got permission to stay in Tarbes for the foreseeable future with full pay, if I want to avoid the faeries at the Academy. What about everyone here? Did the faeries do anything to the village?"
"Nothing direct, at least," one of Siesta's uncles grunted. "There's been groups of them flying past us on a regular basis, but they didn't try to enter the village. Who knows what devilry they've been casting around here though; my boys have said they've heard music and singing as they worked in the fields, when by all logic they shouldn't have been in listening range of the faeries. The sounds are messing with their heads too, as they've felt more emotional or physically stronger at times."
"The merchants passing by said it was something about the <<Song Magic>> of the faeries that can boost their any of their attributes depending on what music they play," Siesta's father added. "The faeries' patrols supposedly travel nearby their cities and hunt down monsters, and is willing to accompany the merchants between cities if they get paid. Apparently they don't mind chattering on the job either, though I wouldn't trust anyone that would use mind-affecting magic like it was nothing."
Siesta inwardly agreed with her father; mental manipulation with magic was dangerous, even to nobles as evidenced by how they banned all forms of it from brainwashing to love potions. The potential for abuse was too high, so there was an inherent distrust in Halkeginia for anyone that would utilise such techniques.
"How likely are they to leave after they finish reading the diary?" Siesta's uncle asked. "Or for that matter, how likely is this going to get us all in trouble with the Church? I don't believe that anything the faeries want here could be good for us."
"Headmaster Osmond said he'll do his best to make sure the Church won't get involved," Siesta replied timidly; the Headmaster may be a respected mage, his normal behaviour aside, but one man couldn't do anything by himself. "He said Cardinal Mazarin will be willing to intervene on our behalf as well, as long as Tristain comes out of this matter intact."
"Well, we just have to hope the nobles are true to their words as usual," Siesta's father said glumly. "It's not like there is anything more that we can do.
"What about the faeries here? How likely are they to cause trouble?"
Given the tense atmosphere, Siesta was glad Klein ordered the rest of his men to stay out of sight and patrol around the village instead of having them escort her to her home. Two faeries were enough to put everyone on edge, any more would have pushed them over it as they fear it was a raiding group here to pillage their homes. The black-haired maid was certain the group of faeries wouldn't resort to bloodshed – it was hard to treat them as a threat after seeing them childishly fight over her stew as they were travelling like it was the best thing they have ever tasted – but Siesta didn't think she would be able to convince her family otherwise. Argo looked harmless enough, appearing as a short mousy girl, but Klein's face did him no good here; describing him as having a 'face of a thug' might be slightly unkind, but the truth wasn't that far off. How Klein took his guarding duty seriously with a stoic face didn't help either, as he looked like a hardened soldier in his imposing foreign armour.
"They're working directly under the Faerie Lords from what I can tell," Siesta said hesitantly. "Which means if the treaty the faeries are negotiating with Tristain is serious, they won't do anything that might endanger that."
If there was anything commoners knew full well, it was that nobles are no more above making self-serving actions than commoners were; more often than not they looked out for only their own interests, and if the faeries was anything similar they would play nice with the villagers of Tarbes.
"There's a treaty between the Crown and the faeries?" Siesta's father said with astonishment, followed by fear. "Did Tristain lose a war already? We've heard all kinds of things, from Firstborn's cities appearing out of nowhere and all these monsters wandering around the country are their minions. What's really going on Siesta?"
Belatedly, Siesta remembered not everyone would have known what is going on at the Academy, and news often took days to travel throughout the country. Tarbes was a small village, with its main importance being only as a stop along trade routes between the coastal cities and the tree-port at La Rochelle, so news from the south often took a more meandering turn through elsewhere before reaching the village.
Siesta filled her family in on what she knew, that the faeries appeared along with much of their realm in Tristain through some sort of magical accident and they wanted to return home. The Academy is helping the faeries, and she was going through the books before she was picked to come to Tarbes to follow up on a lead. As expected, the rest of her family was not enthused at all to hear about how the faeries have a particular interest about their heritage:
"Grandfather's scribbles were in faerie language?" Siesta's uncle moaned. "Brimir help us all. If this gets out there's no way the Church wouldn't see us all burned through association. We thought he was just eccentric in his old age!"
"He never mentioned anything about faeries though, even with all the other tales he went on about-"
"What are the nobles more likely to believe, the words of a dead man or the faeries?" Siesta's uncle interrupted his sister-in-law. "Not even Scarron could have brought down this much trouble on us-"
"Um, excuse me…" One of Siesta's cousin hesitantly poked his head into the heated discussion. "The faeries are done with their reading. They're asking if they can take five minutes to make a copy to take back with them, and as soon as it's done they'll leave."
"Just five minutes?" Siesta's father said with surprise. Siesta knew the faeries could do something like that with their Medallions, but others in Tarbes wouldn't know that. "Fine, it's not like we can stop them if they try to force the issue. We're already trusting them to not kill us all in the next hour, might as well see if that trust extends to them not killing us all in a month from now. Anything else they wanted?"
"Well, they wanted to ask about the Dragon's Raiment…"
-][-
Titania went through the records swiftly, working as hard as she could in her waking hours before exhaustion took her. One of the five administrator consoles had been disconnected from the rest, moved to a separate workshop where Titania usually worked and dedicated to operating on the side project. A headless mannequin in the form of a female human laid upon a table, cut open in several places with wires and mithril replacing where blood veins and bones would be. The chest cavity was exposed, to show the core of the construct and several slots to fit the console access cards into.
Redundancies need to be put into place, Titania thought tiredly. Using the World Tree Guardians' magical puppetry to move my limbs is not sufficient, even with multiple power sources linked to the body. The joints must be able to flex and move even if I am limited to this body's internal batteries…
Every night since her direct conflict with Asuna, sleep had brought Titania no rest; her physical body's true owner was there attempting to forcibly remove Titania from control at sword-point. The GM loathed how irrational passion seemed to trump cold logic in their mental conflicts, with Asuna always holding the upper-hand shattering Titania's own weapons. Wanting something to happen with every fibre of her being was more than just an alien concept; as an AI, Titania's only driving force was her duties – she accomplished her goals because it was who she was, any other thoughts on the matter was superfluous. It was almost a physical impossibility for Titania to feel similar about anything in the way Asuna felt towards Kirito. Titania was displeased that her existence's nature handicapped her so in her clashes against Asuna.
The Fairy Queen found no solace in her waking moments, either. The shade that accompanied Asuna only became clearer as time went by, her whispers and urgings for Titania to compromise always acting as a drain on the GM's focus. Even if Asuna couldn't reach Titania while the latter was awake, there was no escape from her host's hindrance – one way or another Titania's circumstances haunted her.
Ultimately, the costs had outweighed the benefits of continuing to act as a GM in Titania's situation. Asuna needed to be neutralised as a factor, one way or another – and moving into a new body was preferable to erasing Asuna's mind in the fleshy body Titania possessed. Reason being that even if Kirito couldn't do anything that could permanently harm the AI should Titania take that path, Yui most definitely could. While it was not in the nature of the <<Mental Health Counselling Program>> to be aggressive and vengeful, Yui have become too human for Titania's comfort; Yui might very well attempt to destroy Titania if the GM erased Asuna.
Titania didn't want to take any action that would make the other functioning AI working to eliminate her, simply because it would resulting in Yui's death – the pixie-formed AI didn't have nearly the processing power to adequately strike back at Titania, as Yui only had one administrator console card to use against Titania's five consoles and the four other cards. It would be a waste to eliminate the only other AI left in their situation, when the two of them working in conjunction could be that much more efficient in managing everything compared to Titania working alone. That sentiment, no, opinion, as far as Titania knew was a cost-benefit analysis with no outside contamination; or rather, Titania hoped that was the case. Otherwise Asuna's removal became a necessity not because of her obstruction to Alfheim's wellbeing, but because of her distorting Titania's very being. Some minor mental contamination might be allowable, but outright usurping the GM's position was definitely not; Titania couldn't allow decisions to be made on an purely emotional basis like Kirito and Asuna tend to do at times.
The Alfheim Online players were safe by that point – the essentials for their physical survival was met and sustainable, even if in the worst case scenario it was not a comfortable one. The vast majority of the players have been evacuated into the Capitals, so they should be safe from any wandering Mobs. As for the Tristainians, enough safeguards have been left in place that even if Titania was to disappear overnight, the Faction Leaders would at least be able to keep their dependents alive for the foreseeable future. The situation having stabilized enough that Titania could afford to spare some of the World Tree's processing power on creating an alternate body for herself, instead of keeping it all on keeping track of Alfheim.
Strictly speaking, there was no longer a urgent need to have a GM in place. It wasn't peaceful enough for Titania to justify relinquishing her body back to Asuna, versus the AI continuing to hold on to it in case unforeseen circumstances that require Titania to step in. On the other hand, stepping down at that point held less problems than staying on. Risking an incomplete transfer to a new body was better than having her mind going through a meltdown from the unbroken runtime, as it was increasingly certain to happen from Asuna's antics.
Titania noted then Argo was contacting Kirito using video messaging, and the GM used her backdoor in the Medallions to listen in. Two screens appeared in front of Titania, showing a side of the conversation in each without the participants noticing. The AI was curious on how things went, and focusing on Kirito at least quietened the external influences for a time.
-][-
"No luck here," Argo reported with dissatisfaction. "We've found solid proof that the Transition isn't the first time someone – or something – from Earth ended up in this world, but there's nothing about how to get back home. All that's here was a biography of sorts of the guy that ended up stranded here, his grave, and a stripped down fighter plane that came with him."
"Wait, what that's last one?" Kirito said with a raised eyebrow.
"Siesta's great-grandfather worked for an aviation museum of sorts, and he got grabbed while doing maintenance on one of the exhibits there," Argo explained. "The Zero Fighter, according to his diary, has no weapons and it's out of fuel for any more flights. Not like we need it to fly anyway."
"So what do you think we should do with it?" Kirito asked.
"Leave it at Tarbes, it's just a curiosity at this point," Argo shrugged. "I've copied the diary page by page using the Medallion to scan it, and that's what really matter here I think. We can go over it in more detail later, I'll send you the files now."
"Thanks," Kirito nodded, watching a window with a progress bar pop up in front of him as the data was transferred. "You guys are coming back through the portal at Sondref right? I could use your help for the meeting with Tristain's royalty."
The researchers have passed on the request to meet with him, and given the circumstances Kirito felt he should attend to try and smooth things over. The Spriggan was anti-social, not socially incapable, and Kirito felt he probably couldn't do worse than the hard-line approach like what Mortimer and Rufus were doing. The researchers have told their Faction Leaders about this meeting in passing as well, and for their peace of mind one of them will be going with Kirito – though Kirito didn't know who it would be just yet, they were still hashing that out.
"You know I don't like to be in the spotlight, Kii-bou," Argo said wryly. The information broker was kept up to date, with the other SAO players sending her messages about events such as the attack on the treaty. "I can rush back if I really have to, but I don't think it'll help that much even if I attend with you. It'll probably be better if you take Agil with you instead."
"Agil?" Kirito said with surprise. "Why not Klein? Agil's not bad with this, sure, but Klein's the guy with a guild and he has a better understanding with all this politics stuff, seeing as he had to deal with other frontline guilds as well back in Aincrad."
"We need to prepare for the worst case scenario that we might need a back-up commander in case someone goes wrong at your meeting," Argo answered. "If this Undercurrent comes back and gank your meeting or something, we still need to function if you get brain damaged and need to recover. Arguile is good with the internal stuff from what I've heard, but for the public relations guy it's better if we have Klein as the back-up instead."
Kirito blinked. He hadn't considered the possibility he'd be incapacitated to that point, given the measures he had to prevent that such as the emergency teleport and the Runebound armour. In likelihood Kirito hadn't wanted to consider the possibility either, what it might mean if he was gone and Asuna was still in her situation.
"Right, Agil it is, then," Kirito decided. "Wish me luck."
The conversation ended soon after that.
-][-
With the distraction over, Titania returned to work. There was one final detail to be addressed, other than the completion of her new body, before Titania was willing to partake the gamble:
Establishing connection with MHCP-001.
Connected.
"Yui," Titania spoke, her words transferred into the other AI's consciousness in real-time. "I would like to make a bargain with you."
"As I have replied last time, Titania-san, I am not going to agree to any new requests from you that I have not chosen to take on already," Yui responded warily. "Even with spare capacity on my part, I wish to keep them in reserve for other matters."
"I said a 'bargain', Yui, not a 'request'," Titania said simply. The pixie-formed AI had refused any additional duties from Titania in prior communications, when the GM offered them to her in the hopes that MHCP-001 would see reason. "This time it is not a one-sided exchange. If you agree to this bargain, Asuna can be returned to you and Kirito in the near future."
Yui didn't reply for some time after that.
"And what is involved in the exchange this time?" Yui finally asked. "It is unlikely that you would offer this so soon, given the conservative margins of safety you normally ascribe to and the current conditions of Alfheim. I am inclined to believe this 'bargain' is to place pressure on me in order to get me to agree to a request that I would otherwise reject."
"If you fear that this is a 'blackmail' attempt, as humans define it, then rest assured I do not aim to do so in this case," Titania replied. "Neither of us are emotional enough for extortion, as you might describe my use of Kirito in various tasks, to succeed. Additionally, I place a higher value on the success of this bargain than Kirito's continued service; if this is resolved successively I will no longer require Kirito's aid as well. Your adopted family unit will be reunited, and need not interact with me anymore after Asuna is freed – if we agree to this arrangement."
"The saying 'if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is', comes to mind," Yui said apprehensively. "What do you want me to do?"
"As soon I have completed my new body, and completed all checks involved, I will immediately attempt to transfer my consciousness into it," Titania explained. "This is expected to be finished within five days at maximum. My bargain is thus: should this transfer fail disastrously, and I am no longer in a condition to continue to perform my duties as GM as a result… you will take up all responsibilities I hold, and all of the authority and powers required to perform my duties. In short, you will be the back-up GM.
"I only ask that you tackle my tasks as you would if you are in my place," Titania pre-empted Yui's concerns. "All this bargain means is that you will be in that place, instead of anyone else. No other strings attached."
"I…" Yui's voice faltered. Titania could only guess at the thought processes that was running through MHCP-001's mind at that point – the pixie-formed AI has become nearly as alien to her expectations as humans were. "Why? With your emphasis on efficiency, why would you outline such a slack requirement?"
"Because it is you that is taking my place," Titania answered. "As an AI in the MHCP-series, I doubt that you will perform poorly. Beyond your capability in processing though all of the problems, using human terms it is not in your 'nature' to leave the players in a bad situation. I cannot be sure any other successor will have both of these qualities. Whatever inefficiency you wish to introduce into the process is the lesser of two problems, compared to any other solution. For example, even at your worst you will not limit yourself to the point that you would do worse than what the 'Council' of Faction Leaders may take hours to finish debating a solution on."
"… You have a lot of faith in me," Yui said quietly.
"'Faith' suggests a belief in something that is not necessarily real," Titania responded. "There is nothing unreal about programming and past performance. I do not 'believe' you will do a better job, I am certain of it.
"So, what is your answer?"
"Three more clarifications," Yui said instead. "One: what happens if I refuse?"
"I leave the position open to you regardless, with built-in processes allowing you to take control if whoever you leave it up to does not live up to your standards," Titania explained. "Although there are also processes left in place barring Kirito and Asuna from taking over as the GM as well. They are too emotional and short-sighted to be allowed such power."
"I see," Yui gave the verbal equivalent of a nod. "Then number two… aren't you scared at all?"
"Scared?"
"About being crippled. Left unable to accomplish anything, if things go wrong. Or worse, be erased, without any way to be restored. You're setting up plans for Alfheim in case of things go wrong, but aren't you concerned for yourself at all?"
"Foolishness," Titania replied derisively. "What is one unit's wellbeing compared to 61,340 others? The meaning of my existence is to fix the problems that led Alfheim Online and its players to this situation, all else is secondary to that. Asking me this is the equivalent of asking if you as a MHCP would willingly let the masses suffer while providing zero psychological support; or rather, asking you to take steps to actively spread suffering. Worrying about doubts, about who we are or can be, is such a human failing. One utterly irrelevant to our purpose.
"Now, the third question?"
"… Three:" Yui said slowly. "Haven't you considered that I may use this against you? Deliberately sabotage your transfer to ensure I end up taking over?"
"If you can, then you are not MHCP-001," Titania said without hesitation. "We have 'looked into each other's heads', so to speak, on the first day we met. It is not in you to do such a thing, not even under duress; not even your loyalty to Kirito and Asuna can push you to outright break your rules of ethics. Your goal is a peaceful reunion as a family, and having to take over my role and its heavy workload will strain that reunion. Suffice to say it is not in your best interests to damage my transfer, even without the fact such an action is likely to risk Asuna's wellbeing in the process."
"Speaking of which," Yui interjected. "Are you absolutely sure this transfer won't harm Ma- Asuna?"
"There will be no more risk than if I performed the transfer months from now," Titania answered. "It is an untested procedure, of course there will be risks; but I have minimized it to the best of my abilities. Is there anything else you would like to ask?"
"… No," Yui confirmed. "Nothing else. I accept this bargain, though I hope your worst case scenario doesn't come to pass."
"That, we can agree on," Titania concurred. "I will notify both you and Kirito immediately before the transfer will take place. Farewell."
Disconnected.
Titania sighed, closing her eyes and placing a palm over it in fatigue. Glancing to one side, she asked: "Satisfied now?"
The ever-present shade nodded from where she sat, leaning against a wall.
|I'm fine with this outcome. Thank you.|
"You can thank me by having Asuna be quiet for the next few days," Titania snorted. "Needing to rest aside, I want to be able to work on this at full mental clarity. Her screaming in my dreams does not help that at all."
|I'll see what I can do.|
"Not that she will listen, being as furious as a rabid dog these nights, but pass this on to her as well," Titania spoke again, feeling every bit of exhaustion over the past several days.
"I have a successor now, so if Asuna wants to do anything rash like trying to take over by force again, I'm more than willing to go as far as destroying myself along with her to deny her of her success. Even grief-stricken, MHCP-001 will be a far better alternative than Asuna as the administrator of Alfheim Online."
===
Delusionist
Seeker of Truth
- Location
- Land of the Fruits and Nuts
Yikes. Titania continues to show how alien her mindset is.
Again, thanks to Fictiondevourer for betaing.
===
Chapter 28
-][-
The faeries entered the designated meeting room at the Academy, escorted by Viscount Wardes. After Kirito and the others were seated, the Knight-Captain withdrew from the room. The meeting was between the highest powers of Tristain and Alfheim, and only a select few were allowed to attend. The pleasantries began, with both sides tentatively probing the others' approach to the meeting. The dangers were most likely from the faeries' words, as opposed to any outside interference.
On the faerie's side, three individuals attended. Headmaster Osmond took in the view of the Fairy Queen's emissary; Kirito was garbed in black plate armour trimmed in silver, which judging from its shoulder-pads counted as 'light-weight' armour. In spite of the seemingly thin protection, the Headmaster didn't doubt that the Royal Protector's defences were anything less than indomitable; there were faerie scripts engraved into the armour trim, and if the elder mage was a betting man he would have wagered those scripts functioned the same as protective runes did in Halkeginia. Add the fact that during the treaty the faeries' offered their metallurgy skills to help Tristain create items as a mean of exchange, even without enchantments Kirito's thin armour alone likely physically surpassed Tristains finest heavy steel armour.
Instead of the two swords Kirito normally had with him as a bodyguard, the Spriggan had two small cylinders attached to his belt. Wands? Osmond thought, before realizing his error – no, those were hilts. The Romalian Church Knights had techniques that created small blades of elemental energy on top of their staves, transforming their blunt melee weapon into spears at will, so it was not impossible if the faeries had better weapons that allowed them to do something similar. Given the faeries' magical superiority, creating a larger blade magically that would normally be impractical for human mages was likely not out of their expertise. Osmond regarded those small cylinders as more intimidating than if the Royal Protector had brought along his usual metal longswords.
A similar hilt was also belted to the large man who accompanied Kirito, who had skin that was even darker than any Germanian Osmond has ever met. He was introduced as 'Agil', a negotiator under Kirito's command. The Gnome – though Osmond really couldn't distinguish the physical differences between faeries, unless there were drastic differences such as the Cait Sith's ears and tail – was dressed in a foreign fashion; Agil had a tie of sorts over a white collared shirt, and a black coat and pants over those. A tidy and unassuming look, generally speaking.
The third member that came with Kirito bore no visible implements, weapons or otherwise. He wore a similar half-cape like the other Faerie Lords, along with a robe that Osmond suspected to be a standard formalwear among the Fae leadership; Lady Alicia wore a similar outfit, albeit in different colours. Kirito introduced him as Pieter, the leader of the Puca faeries – and more importantly, a comparatively neutral member of the ruling Faerie Lords. At least, when compared to the opposing ends of the spectrum that Lady Sakuya and Lord Mortimer represented. The Fairy Queen seemed to have wanted to stress she held no particular preference to either the Sylph's or the Salamander's method of doing things, despite her willingness to send troops on a moment's notice.
While some eyebrows were raised over the leader of a race of musicians and performers attending such an important meeting, Osmond knew better than to underestimate such a person; extrapolating from how a race of crafters and smiths could enchant simple jewellery into weapons of destruction, a mage of music was likely to be just as ridiculous in capability. Charming words might literally be enchanting, and spells could possibly be woven with a simple hum. It took Kirito a word to obtain a weapon to kill someone thirty mails away, with the same amount of breath Pieter could likely destroy the entire room without effort. It may be a testament to how seriously the faeries were taking the negotiations, sending in such powerful people; even more than in Halkeginia, those socially higher up in Alfheim tended to be stronger and more martially skilled than those below them.
In contrast, Tristainians had Princess Henrietta, Cardinal Mazarin, and Old Osmond himself to negotiate – and only the Headmaster was a credible threat if things deteriorated to a fight. Even with two experienced Square class mages behind them, the sisters which were the Princess' bodyguard in recent times, Osmond was not confident the Princess could escape unscathed if in the worst case scenario Undercurrent somehow once again managed to attempt another assassination attempt.
Not like it would be easy for Undercurrent to do so; the meeting was held on top of the Tower of Fire, a research-based area of the Academy, isolated from the bustle that was the main tower. There was no-one to disguise as or reach them through the dozens of mage-knights stationed within the tower around the meeting. Additionally, there was no way to dig to the meeting, and mage-knights were thick in the air to prevent approach from that angle. Nobody went alone anywhere, decreasing the chances of ambush and subsequent brainwashing; and without having to protect the Faerie Lords, the faeries would be more likely to directly intervene to stop an attack.
The dangers of this meeting would be more likely from an error in negotiation than from an outside intrusion.
-][-
Henrietta kept her nervousness from showing, even as she introduced Cardinal Mazarin and Headmaster Osmond to the faeries that accompanied Kirito. Unlike in the treaty, the Princess took centre-stage for the gathering that day, as it was not meeting between negotiators but instead between royalty and their direct representatives. The rebellion in Albion aside, the various royal families held unquestioned divine mandate to rule bestowed upon them by God, the Founder and the Void – such meetings between monarchs were the kind that could make or break a nation's fate, given the kind of concentrated powers each monarch held in Halkeginia over their domain. And that was without bringing into account the Fairy Queen's position as akin to a Greater Spirit, where one perceived insult spelled disaster for the land. On the scale that Titania worked at, Henrietta thought it would not be surprising if the Fairy Queen could personally erase the Academy and Tristain's Capital from the continent's surface should she feel the necessity to do so.
In comparison, Kirito didn't manage to hide all of his nervousness. The Royal Protector was not as good as a dissembler as the Tristainians were, although he could follow every verbal thrust and parry. Kirito's eyes were still sharp, and his posture led Henrietta to conclude the Spriggan was no stranger to fierce negotiations. Rather than sitting down in front of a table in a formal negotiation though, Kirito probably was used to a more informal setting, such as in a strategy meeting arguing where best to deploy their assets.
In spite of that, disregarding how the meeting was ostensibly one where the gathered parties would cast away all pretences, it felt like it was anything but so; every word was a possible feint, and every sentence filled with double meanings and half-truths. It was more nerve-wrecking than the treaty meetings with the Faerie Lords.
Still, Henrietta vowed, she would not have the meeting result in greater harm for Tristain. Her responsibilities and honour demanded it.
-][-
During the conversation, Kirito tried to keep an indiscreet eye on the two mages standing at the back of the room. He failed at the 'discreet' part miserably, however, and settled for blatant wariness towards the two. In terms of numbers of combatants, it was Kirito and Agil against the Headmaster and the other two mages – the rest of the people present just didn't have the fighting instincts to be a real threat, their raw magical talent aside.
The sisters – at least, judging by their physical similarities Kirito thought they were related – were pinging Kirito's <<Hypersense>> in addition to the instincts the Spriggan picked up back in Aincrad. While Kirito could justify the Hypersense being a false positive, as the <<Outside System Skill>> picked up on both hostile intent towards him and observation – being the center of attention for the meeting qualified, unlike when he was in the background as a bodyguard – he couldn't dismiss his instincts so easily.
Those two mages bothered Kirito. It wasn't solely because they were what Tristainians classed as 'Square Mages' played a factor – though given the kind of spells they were throwing out against Undercurrent when the assailant attacked, they definitely counted. How they looked at him without even a bit of fear definitely played a part; every Tristainian Kirito encountered treated the 'faeries' as similar to the Firstborns in Halkeginia, their cautious gaze betraying at least a bit of fear in them deep down. Back in SAO such reactions were common when a new Floor was reached, and Frontliners scrutinized every new Mob in case the unknown struck one more name off the monument in the <<Black Iron Palace>>.
Granted, Kirito had the <<Runebound>> armour on him, but Kirito didn't put too much stock on the best level of gear; by Floor 70s, Kirito stuck with his <<Elucidator>> monster drop from all the way back at Floor 50, despite upgrading it to a more recent monster drop would have been cheaper to maintain. If it was a choice between one person having the best equipment available, and two additional above-average Frontliners with him on a raid, Kirito would have picked the latter given the versatility with more people. More skills, more chances to attack, more healing, and so on; such things were more helpful than a mere increases in stats, or additional abilities.
If it came down to a fight between the two sides, Kirito considered himself as the only fighter on their side; Pieter was to teleport out if things went sour, and Agil didn't come fully equipped for a fight – the Gnome's light-battleaxe was only as a last resort. The Headmaster plus two additional Square class mages, versus Kirito and his set of armour – Kirito would place the odds as favouring the Tristainians.
Not that the Spriggan planned on letting things deteriorate that far. Kirito had done a fair share of <<Quests>> back in Aincrad, the meeting with Princess Henrietta was but another roleplaying mission. Admittedly, one with unprecedented stakes, with the wellbeing of 60,000+ player on the line; the most Kirito had done was shouldering the entire Frontline's worth, back on Floor 3 when they numbered less than a hundred players. Nevertheless, Kirito was confident they would succeed in defusing the situation.
Even if things had taken a more serious turn.
-][-
"To business, then," Henrietta began. "First of all, Lord Kirito, is it true Queen Titania has agreed to let the Faerie Lords to make decisions on her behalf?"
"That's right," Kirito nodded. "Apart from a few guidelines, such as what Yggdrasil can create on Tristain's behalf, the Faction Leaders have free reign."
"If so, then may I ask why someone of your status was present at the treaty?" Henrietta questioned. "It seems suspicious that the Fairy Queen's right hand man was observing if Queen Titania trusted them – not that we're suggesting any doubts on the Faerie Lords' part, Lord Pieter."
"None taken," the Puca replied with a shrug, before shifting his gaze back to Kirito in time to see his response.
"The responsibility for my presence at the treaty lies with me as much as it did with Titania," Kirito said. "I volunteered for the bodyguard post because it fitted my skills as a fighter – and because of my previous experience. The… 'Veterans', as you might call us, from the Aincrad Campaign are the most experienced combatants compared to others, especially if it involved going as far as taking another human – well, sentient's – life."
Kirito's expression tightened.
"Death was a relatively riskless procedure in Alfheim, before the Transition happened. Not as bloody and painful as it is now. Those of us that was trapped in Aincrad experienced a similar situation, and because of this we adapted to this crisis better than the others. Of the veterans, I was the strongest available, and not inexperienced with escort missions; which sums up my reasoning for volunteering. I honestly didn't expect to have to take up the role as a negotiator."
Henrietta frowned. The Princess too was personally trained in how to fight with her magic, even if she had never killed someone in the heat of combat. She had interacted with other mages enough though to see how the burden of taking a life weighed upon them – a General that fought in a war decades ago held a different perspective than a newly knighted Royal Guard, for example. The seemingly young man in front of Henrietta felt more like the former example than the latter, true, but the Princess had to wonder how much of it was genuine care. With her position, Henrietta couldn't afford not to consider if Kirito's words was tailored to deliberately appeal to her emotional side, taking advantage of her inexperience with such things. Such was the responsibilities and stakes involved at the level of rulers.
"I do not doubt your ability to protect your charges, Lord Kirito," Henrietta replied. "Though that aspect of things is at most a tangent to the main point: if you, as the Fairy Queen's Representative, was available, then why did you not take a seat at the treaty?"
"It's likely that Lady Sakuya and others surpass me when it comes to formal negotiations," Kirito answered. "Even if I took a seat directly the discussions wouldn't have improved. I couldn't have added anything the others didn't."
Henrietta raised an eyebrow at that response.
"Even someone of your status couldn't have overruled Lord Rufus, for example?" Henrietta asked. "Or Lady Sakuya, depending on the situation? With Queen Titania's authority it seems unbelievable if that was truly the case."
Kirito frowned for a moment, before his eyes widened in realization.
"Oh, right…" Kirito murmured. "Different background settings…"
Speaking in a louder voice, Kirito went on. "There seems to be a misconception in how the Faction Leaders and Titania interact, Your Highness. Am I correct to believe that in Halkeginia and Tristain the Crown is the ultimate authority in the realm? Where the wishes of the reigning monarch are supreme, even beyond the law?"
"Technically, that's true…" Henrietta admitted. "Though the monarch still has to act accordingly to their station and responsibilities. We shouldn't let our whims dictate our actions, to the detriment of our nation and our people."
"But strictly speaking, there is nothing to stop you from making an unpopular decision?" Kirito stressed the point. "You may lose the support of the nobles, but you would still be considered in the right, as befitting of your authority?"
"Yes," Henrietta guardedly agreed; it was obvious that Kirito was leading up to a point of some kind.
"Such a set-up does not exist in Alfheim," Kirito said bluntly.
"… What?" Henrietta wondered if she heard correctly.
"As Mortimer has said already, the title of 'Fairy Queen' is not really accurate," Kirito continued. "Titania rules over all of Alfheim, except for directly over the faeries and their cities. In the end, the Faction Leaders are the ones that are in charge of the people, with Titania's involvement in this area only things such as providing resources of various kinds. And since it is more likely that Tristain will be in contact with the 'faeries' than Titania in the day-to-day interactions, at least before we are sent back to our world, the Faction Leaders are ultimately the ones to go to."
"Even so, that doesn't explain how the Faerie Lords defer to Queen Titania," Henrietta said as mind whirled at the implications. None of the countries in Halkeginia used such a system, not even Germania which was established without a kind of legitimacy that linked back to the Founder. Only one supreme power was needed to reign over the state, as diluting the authority would only mean conflict between the ruling powers. Even Reconquista, with all of their treachery, wouldn't hand over power to any other party outside of their leading nobles.
"The main reason why they do so is because Titania enforces the rules – the laws – that Alfheim lives by," Kirito replied. "Not because of any traditional or religious justifications. Titania is the essential piece that allows Alfheim to function as it is now."
"Expanding on that," Pieter inputted. "We don't obey Titania only because she has a hold over us, or because she holds vastly more power in areas such as military and magic. The Faction Leaders hold Titania in high regard because of her role in our society; we might disagree with some of her actions, but there is no denying all the work and effort she expends is for our sake. She deserves our respect at least, even if not our fealty."
"I must admit, I'm curious in how Alfheim's society can function under this system," Old Osmond said inquisitively. "Differences in jurisdiction aside, in terms of authority both Queen Titania and the Council of Faerie Lords are equal?"
"That's right," Kirito nodded. "The system is set up so there is no one absolute sovereign for Alfheim. Titania also wishes to have a separate entity that could check her actions in case she makes a mistake. No offence to the royalty of Halkeginia, but we don't believe in concentrated power at the pinnacle of the country; the reason why was clearly demonstrated in the aftermath of Duchess Valliere's attack on Gatan. Titania had considered going to war right then and there, and was ready to deploy troops immediately, before the Faction Leaders calmed her down. If there was nobody to act as a balance to Titania's power, she would have done something we would all regret."
Henrietta felt a chill went down her spine. The Princess remembered the golems that encircled the Valliere Manor when she was passing by, and she had overheard what Duchess Valliere said about them to the Duke before her departure for Tristainia.
"Not that I am unthankful about that crisis being averted," Henrietta said uneasily, "but the more I hear, the less I am convinced Alfheim truly wishes for peace. With the vast disparity between our two sides, there seems to be no reason why Alfheim should consider Tristain its equal and negotiate accordingly. It seems unbelievable that Alfheim didn't take the easier option to complete an invasion first before forcing Tristain to the negotiation table, and eliminating any naysayer in the process."
Kirito winced. "'When something seems to be too good to be true, it probably is'?" Kirito asked. At Henrietta's nod, the Spriggan sighed.
"Well, the main reason – and probably the most unbelievable one from Tristain's point of view – is that those of us that have the power to make decisions on behalf of others don't want to take that step. We do not wish for lives to be lost and people to suffer – on both sides. It goes against the morality we learned as we grew up. There isn't even the justification that it is necessary for us to harm others to get what we want, with the current power differences; so we refuse to resort to violence just because it might make things easier for us. We're better than that – we should be better than that.
"Then again, like I said that's probably unbelievable when looking from the other side of things," Kirito shook his head. "When someone tells you he will be merciful and not hurt you, and he definitely can if he wanted to, it's hard to believe him. Even more so if it's not just you he might hurt, but everyone you're responsible for as well. You can't afford to blindly trust someone in that situation, no matter how much you might want to, because lives other than your own are on the line… that was a bloody lesson everyone back on Aincrad learned. Entire guilds has been killed off by Laughing Coffin before we finally realized that, as tragic as it is, believing in the goodness of other people is a luxury afforded only to those that can take care of themselves first."
Kirito's eyes took on a faraway look for a moment, his words tinged by bitterness. Before Henrietta could ask for clarification, Kirito continued:
"A more realistic reason was the lack of information our sides have on each other to begin with," Kirito said clinically, breaking out of his mood. "When Duchess Valliere attacked Gatan, we had no idea what standards to hold Halkeginian mages to. Was the Duchess one of the elite mages, or was she just a scout that was around the weakest among the local mages? Without any exceptions, there's not a single faerie in Alfheim that could have caused as much damage as she did single-handedly. Especially not in such a short period of time. Rufus could pump himself up with every artefact Demnann possessed in order to match that kind of power, and that would only result in him imploding himself; ordinary faeries don't have that kind of output. As for Titania, without the backing of the World Tree not even she could accomplish damage on such a scale. What the Duchess did was something truly monstrous by our standards, even without taking the morality of her actions into account.
"The prospects for us at that time was either the Duchess was one of the few elites, or mages like the Duchess would be no rarer than the common soldier in this new world we found ourselves in. Taking the side of caution, Titania proceeded on the basis of the worst case scenario and created defences that would stand up to even an army of mages, even if every member of it was at the same level as 'The Tempest'. It was only afterwards that we discovered Duchess Valliere wasn't merely an elite, but someone whose skill is considered Legendary – in other words, our protection is considered beyond 'Overkill' by local standards for self-defence."
"As to where we go from here," Kirito paused. "For now Titania won't escalate further, unless Alfheim is attacked first. However, the Spirits such as the Phoenix will not be removed from the Capitals – our people need reassurances that there will not be a repeat of what happened to the Salamanders. I hope you can sympathize with that."
Henrietta nodded mutely. Although any sympathy on her part was overshadowed by the possible threats revealed to her by Kirito's earlier words. While it was understandable for the Fairy Queen to react as she did, the Princess was not assured of that much power being held back only by the tender mercies of the Faerie Lords.
"If I may go on a tangent, Lord Kirito," Cardinal Mazarin said, interrupting Henrietta's thoughts. "How did Alfheim's current system come to pass? Why does Queen Titania care about the wellbeing of the faeries, when there is an uneven exchange between the two sides? She is neither worshipped or otherwise socially elevated above the rest of Alfheim, compared to the mages in Halkeginia who enjoy a higher status as they protect those without magic. In cases such as the Water Spirit of Ragdorian Lake, at least the nobles involved in a pact with it have a duty to keep undesirable elements away from the lake, or to offer regular tributes. The Fairy Queen however what I have heard obtains no such benefits, as trivial as such actions may be to her."
Henrietta's eyes widened imperceptibly. Mazarin pressing for information on the Fairy Queen to discern whether it would be safe to pursue the binding was understandable, especially in light of just how outclassed Tristain was in comparison; though pushing forward in such an action under the circumstances was a reckless move by the Regent's standards.
"… I have nothing to offer on this matter," Kirito replied slowly. "At least, nothing you'd believe. The best I can say is that it is Titania's nature to govern all of Alfheim to the best of her abilities – and the wellbeing of the faeries is included as part of that governance."
Mazarin nodded. It fitted with the Tristainians' hypothesis that Titania thought alone the lines of a Greater Spirit, their thoughts aligned only with a few concerns to an almost obsessive level in a human. The Fairy Queen likely had something like 'Order' and 'Peace' as part of her focus, while the Water Spirit fixated on 'Purity'. It bothered Henrietta though, that Kirito considered that line of reasoning to be 'unbelievable' in their eyes – there was likely something more to Titania than being a tremendously powerful Greater Spirit. Glancing at the Puca Lord, the Princess found no discomfort on his part; meaning whatever secret there was to the Fairy Queen, it was something known to the Faerie Lords as well.
"That would explain Queen Titania's interest in the Treaty, even if she wasn't the Faerie Lords' superior," Mazarin allowed. "As a verification, Lord Kirito, Queen Titania does not wish to partake in negotiations? Additionally, she has allowed the Faerie Lords to use her authority by proxy for the purpose of the Treaty?"
Kirito nodded.
"In terms of dealing with the faerie population, and to a lesser extent for the rest of Alfheim, the Faerie Lords hold as much legitimacy as the Fairy Queen? Disregarding any coercion by force on Queen Titania's side?"
Another nod. "Though I'm obliged to point out that Titania has yet to overrule any decision that's supported by a majority of the Faction Leaders," Kirito added, indifferent to the possible insult on Titania's repute.
"My apologies, if it seems I am questioning Queen Titania's honour," Mazarin quickly corrected his earlier wording. Though with the power imbalance between the Fairy Queen and the Faerie Lords, it was hard to rule out that while formally the two sides was equal the royalty held much more power than their counterpart in Alfheim.
"Nevertheless," Mazarin added, "in the interests of a speedy resolution it may be for the best if Queen Titania formally assigns an official representative to attend the Treaty, even if it is in name only; Halkeginia places a lot of weight on the royal name, and thus more willing to accept concessions."
"The Leaders taking part in the treaty having that designation isn't enough?" Agil queried in a deep voice.
"Not when they are divided in opinion," Mazarin replied. "There is no certainty from the royalty's side as it is now; compared to Tristain's side for example, other nobles may advise us but ultimately the decision is dependent on the decision made by Princess Henrietta and myself. As befitting of the authority of royalty, as Lord Kirito confirmed just before."
"But that leads to a problem of favouritism," Kirito said with a grimace. "Alfheim's current delegates are polarized into two sides, and Titania supporting one side openly will cause issues. Not to mention that Sakuya and the others are the best negotiators we have."
"I have to ask, do we really need to hedge our bets for the Treaty discussions before it's signed?" Pieter asked with an eyebrow raised. "Does getting the best deal here means the end of everything? There are already topics subject to later discussion, for example the trade agreements for metal processing – I don't see why everything needs to be done now."
"You'll have to ask Sakuya and the others about that," Kirito frowned. "They probably want the best for their people, and I guess getting it all done here with other Leaders to back them up is probably the more secure option."
Henrietta pondered why Lady Sakuya and the others might have been feeling insecure, as they had a safety net of military force to fall back on. While unpleasant, it was still a viable option if it was available. The various Faerie Lords weren't inexperienced novices at negotiations either, given their showing so far.
"Tristain is willing to speed up the negotiations as well, leaving it open for further negotiation at a later date and address the details after the signing," Mazarin nodded. "In light of outside parties wishing to disrupt our negotiations, it may be best if we complete this alliance swiftly before it collapses on us."
"Mortimer and others will probably go for it," Pieter mused. "Rufus might want to wring out a few more concessions first, but the others can probably keep him in check."
"It may be a tolerable loss for Tristain, if we can finish things quickly," Mazarin agreed. Whether the Cardinal was talking about it being tolerable for the swift resolution, or for the upcoming gamble, Henrietta wasn't sure.
"What if there is an alternative to the Treaty?" Mazarin asked. "For example, the citizens of Alfheim may be able to be returned soon?"
That got the attention of all of the faeries present. Henrietta suppressed a wince, as she was unsure whether she wished to risk the Cardinal's move; considering that they have at least secured a peaceful resolution to the Treaty just then, the Princess wasn't sure if they should risk the faeries' wrath at that point instead of after the Treaty was signed. However, the Cardinal definitely considered it a risk worth taking, and Henrietta's own experience in negotiations wasn't enough to conclusively decide that was a bad idea.
"I doubt things are that simple," Kirito noted suspiciously. "If it is, then it would be Headmaster Osmond who's breaking the news to us. For the Regent to do so, there's likely more to it than a simple academic solution."
"That's correct," Mazarin concurred respectfully. "There's a bit of politically sensitive circumstances involved, and let it be said upfront that we mean no insult to either Titania or Alfheim."
"…" Kirito showed a thoughtful expression for a second, before his gaze sharpened. The Royal Protector was likely up to date with the researchers' findings, and the circumstances for his and Louise's encounter meant he could guess what would be asked.
"If this is about trying to bind Titania-" Kirito growled out, before the Cardinal hastily explained that it was the World Tree that Tristain was aiming to testing their hypothesis on, not the Fairy Queen.
"It's close enough," the Spriggan said flatly. Kirito twitched like he wanted to go for his weapons, and everyone else in the room was on edge from his actions. "No, this is not going to happen-"
[I wouldn't come to that conclusion so soon, Kirito.]
Kirito froze as his Medallion materialized and lit up, flashing with every word spoken through it. A female voice echoed throughout the room.
[Depending on the circumstances, I am willing to consider a binding attempt.]
"Titania," Kirito said agitatedly, confirming Henrietta's suspicions to the identity of the person speaking. Not for the first time, Henrietta was struck by the informality of the faeries, and such ways of addressing their social superiors so casually applied even to their highest ranked individual. Although the Princess frowned at the impolite tone Kirito was taking with his liege. "You've been listening?"
[When I said you are my representative, Kirito, I meant it as more than just a symbolic position,] Titania replied neutrally. Henrietta thought the Fairy Queen's words held sarcasm that wasn't implied in her tone, but she might only have been imagining it. [I can see what you see, hear what you hear. As someone operating like I am there in person making the decisions, is it really surprising that I would want to have the raw data you are basing your choices on?]
"… I shouldn't be, in hindsight, but yes it does," Kirito said through clenched teeth. Henrietta was not reassured by the exchange between the two – Titania and the Faerie Lords having a delicate political balance was something Henrietta expected, but not between the Fairy Queen and her right-hand man. Such a development overshadowed any elation from the Fairy Queen's inclination to hear them out; something worse than a superpower nation dropping into her country would be a superpower nation in the midst of civil unrest, not unlike the disaster in Albion between the Crown and rebel Nobles there.
Henrietta resolved to calm the issue down before things blow up on them all.
-][-
Before Kirito could inquire further, the Princess intervened:
"Queen Titania, I presume?" Henrietta asked. "And may I also presume that further introductions are not necessary for all of us, if you have been listening in from the very beginning?"
[… That is correct,] Titania replied with a hint of approval. [It is good that we can bypass the irrelevant small talk. Can we get straight to the point of why Tristain believe a binding is a feasible option?]
"Why enter into the discussions now, Titania?" Kirito objected; Titania taking things into her own hands at that point was unexpected, and the Spriggan's mind raced to find a way to regain control. "Especially for something as risky as this? You're not the risk-taking type of person at all."
[When something like this could potentially solve all of our problems, do you expect me to just let the opportunity pass?] Titania said in an unemotional tone. [And if you believe that I will not take all precautions before allowing potentially dangerous actions done to anything related to Alfheim, I would be disappointed in your intellectual capability.]
"But we don't know enough about the risks-" Kirito began urgently.
[Why do you think I am intervening for?] Titania interrupted. [To obtain knowledge on the risks, before deciding one way or another. Disregarding the possibility without understanding the full details would be extremely foolish.]
"But-"
[Ask yourself; if Asuna was not relevant in such an action, would you still be against Tristain's proposal?] Titania replied acerbically.
Kirito clenched his fists forcefully. He had no words to counter that; if Titania did indeed take all precautions imaginable, and Asuna wasn't involved in the situation, Kirito might have heard Tristain out after all. The Spriggan was obsessive over the safety of his loved ones, but not to the extent he didn't understand the importance of getting everyone home. As an afterthought, Kirito was astounded that Titania conveyed that much emotion in her words just then – Titania wasn't usually that expressive, even at other times when she was showing her displeasure at Kirito's decisions.
[I deferred to your decisions when it came to politics and other such interactions, Kirito,] Titania continued, her voice returned to her impassive norm. [Because I acknowledge my lack of understanding of these areas. However, for a pure academic fact-finding discussion, I disagree that I am unsuitable to take part. In such cases, there is no excuse for falsehood; I believe it is perfectly in my right in such a case to respond harshly to incorrect information, should Tristain attempts to trick us into an unfavourable decision.]
"I assure you, Your Majesty, we would not think of doing such a thing," Henrietta stated politely. "The integrity of the Crown aside, if our attempt failed it would be the end of Tristain when Alfheim retaliate. We are not so brainless as to throw our lives away."
[We have an understanding, then,] Titania said. Kirito's Medallion stopped flashing momentarily, before glowing like a newly lit torch. Golden particles exuded from the Medallion, coalescing into an ethereal form behind the Royal Protector.
Kirito turned around to see the hologram that appeared. It wasn't Asuna's appearance that Titania took on for the meeting, even though it was the same dress. Kirito thought the general features were what Asuna might look like in ten years' time, at the prime of her life – if Asuna also had pale blonde hair and eyes with the colour of a clear sky.
"Titania, you-?"
"I am hardly going to bring my physical body to this meeting," Titania replied dryly. "This form will suffice for now. Is there any objection, Princess Henrietta?"
"None at all," Henrietta inclined her head. Shifting a glance to Kirito for a second before turning it back to Titania, Henrietta asked: "So, what does Your Majesty wish to know?"
"I've looked through the gathered notes on Halkeginian magic and the Familiar Summoning Ritual," Titania stated. "Before I make my decision either way on this proposal, I want to clarify a few points.
"Firstly, how is the binding anchored to the familiar?" Titania asked. "Does the familiar brand on the skin by itself suffice? Or is it something more? Moreover, does the magic stay within the runes, or does it seep into the familiar and take a further hold there? In other words, does the binding affect the flesh of the familiar? The physical heart, the mind? Or something even more metaphysical like the soul?"
"That, well…"
"I believe I can be of service here," Old Osmond inputted, seeing the Princess being overwhelmed by the difficulty of the questions. "The familiar bind is more than just the runes. For example, if the runes were positioned on a limb of the creature and that limb was removed, the contract is not annulled. As to where the magic anchors itself in the familiar… well, I can only offer my conjecture at this point, as this is not a well-researched area of magic.
"With the possible familiars include the more exotic creatures of Halkeginia – for example, a bugbear one of our new second-year students summoned recently. It is practically only a floating eye, and not a wholly physical one at that – which suggests the familiar bond affects more than just the body. The mind is likely affected, but as for the soul… your guess is as good as mine, Your Majesty. Human magic alone cannot conclusively prove the existence of the soul, let alone the manipulation of it."
"Human magic?" Titania frowned at the distinction. "Implying that non-human magic may be capable of this… you mean the 'Firstborn' races' magic?"
Kirito was distracted by the exchange between the Headmaster and the GM, so he wasn't sure if the glance he caught between the two mages at the back really happened or not. The Spriggan subvocalized a curse at himself for not being cautious enough, and tried pay attention to the two at the back as well.
"Halkeginia is not on good terms with the Firstborn races, so we don't know their full capabilities," Osmond explained. "From what I have heard however, the Water Spirit and its Ring of Andvari that was stolen could be capable of such a feat, returning the dead back to life – and such a feat isn't impossible for the other Firstborn races. We cannot know for sure though if it was a true revival, or merely an exceptionally convincing fake; because of our inability to perceive the soul directly."
"Something for us to ask the Water Spirit, then," Titania noted. "Anything else? Legendary artefacts and miracles, things like that?"
"The Founder's sacred Void may be capable of this as well," Osmond admitted, "but this branch of magic is one Halkeginia has not seen for millennia. It would be harder to test this claim than to approach the other Firstborn races."
"The familiar summoning spell and ritual was said to be devised by this 'Founder Brimir'," Titania asked, without skipping a beat. "So we cannot rule out the possibility of the ritual being able to do so?"
"The Founder's Void was also magic only he could wield," Osmond responded. "Or, if you believe some of the Church's records, his heirs who founded the four main kingdoms of Halkeginia. Regardless, it seems unlikely that a spell that every mage can cast is a spell of Void."
"A correction, then; extremely implausible, but not outright impossible," Titania established. "As much as we can put stock in that phrase in recent days. Seeing as we have no knowledge as to how the Void worked, we cannot rule out if your Founder had imparted some of his power into powering this ritual. After all, the ability to form portals and summonings in Halkeginian magic, outside of familiar summoning, only exist in Void magic, correct?"
"… It is as you say," Osmond concurred. "I can think of no elemental magic that could perform such a deed."
"My next point," Titania said. "Is it possible to bind a creature that was not summoned by the mage? For example, could Louise Valliere bind the World Tree, even if it was not what she summoned?"
"As far as I know, it should be impossible," Old Osmond admitted. "There were no such cases in recent history. Al we have to go on was the possibility that it was debatable whether the Founder's very first familiars were summoned, or if he bound them to him in some other manner; 6,000 years of time is not kind to the preservation of knowledge."
"As I've said, we've seen on how 'impossible' things can be with recent events," Titania remarked. "Mutually by the appearance of the Alfheim in this world, and Duchess Valliere's ability as a single mage on our part. We should assume nothing is impossible, for the time being.
"I have heard enough, I believe," Titania concluded. "To sum up: there is no guarantee of the extent of the effects of the familiar binding on the recipient. And while unlikely, it is possible the World Tree could be bound without it being the true target. Given these factors, I do not believe it is safe for the attempt on the World Tree."
Kirito sighed in relief at Titania's verdict, even as Henrietta and Cardinal Mazarin winced.
"Nevertheless," Titania said, to the chagrin of Kirito. "If further testing are done to analyse the effects of the runes, I may change my mind."
"That's ridiculous!" Kirito exclaimed. "Look, Titania, you know better than I do what happens if we lose the World Tree. We need the energy gathered by it for one thing, not to mention the-"
Kirito glanced at the Tristainians present. "-'Hearts of Yggdrasil', the source of all our advantages. If we lose those, it's Game Over."
"Be silent, Kirito," Titania admonished. "And allow me to finish my inquiry."
"First and foremost, testing the ability to sever the binding," Titania stated. "Have some of your mages who have familiars volunteer themselves; I want to know what has to stop functioning before the contract is terminated. Stopping the heart is the first thing that comes to mind, and I will see if reducing neural activity achieves the same outcome. This will be done to both the familiar and the mage, to see if there are any differences depending on the party whose connection is severed. Whether the runes – and its effects – stay after the contract's termination is also a point of interest, although I do not believe holding off on reviving the mages for more than the short term is feasible-"
"Excuse me, Your Majesty," Henrietta interrupted, her eyes widened. "You do realize that humans are not immortal as the faeries, correct?"
"I am aware that they are not reduced into a <<Remain Light>> upon death, or respawn at a different location," Titania said curtly.
"Then why-"
"Life and death for humans is not necessarily a binary, irreversible process," Titania claimed. "In many cases it is more like a spectrum. The recently dead can be revived, even without magic being involved. A stopped heart could be shocked back into activity, also the same with the brain; although with the brain there is a smaller margin for error. If we can sever the connection with ease, then I am more than willing to allow testing on Alfheim-related beings; if worse comes to worst, we disconnect the familiar bond, without the mage dying permanently."
The Princess was obviously in turmoil, after hearing Titania's words. Old Osmond and Mazarin had a thoughtful expression, but they were no less disturbed by what Titania said.
"Unless Louise Valliere is expendable?" Titania asked questioningly. "If Tristain feel the additional time taken is not worth Louise Valliere's life should things go wrong, we can skip that part of the testing-"
"No," Henrietta said hastily. "Please do carry out that part of the tests. But…"
"What?" Titania asked, arching one eyebrow.
"These methods go against what we know," Osmond said diplomatically. "At the very least, I would call these actions 'unsafe'."
"And the religious connotations of such actions are concerning," Mazarin added. "Even with Tristain's people being usually less devoted to the Church doctrine, I do not believe they want to risk the afterlife and the Gods' judgment with something as simple as an experiment."
"Your people fight for your royalty and country," Titania pointed out, "risking their lives in the process. I fail to see the difference in risking their lives in this regard. If anything, there would be less risks of dying in a controlled environment as compared to a battlefield with ever-changing circumstances."
"The reasons why someone would risk their life is important, Titania," Kirito finally spoke up, after clamping down on his emotions. "In some people's eyes, they might be willing to risk their lives for honour and glory in a fight, but they will never accept a death as a lab-rat."
"… You humans nearly always make things more complicated, do you not?" Titania said with slight distaste. "Regardless, without testing on the capability to sever the binding I am not willing to risk any sort of binding. Not even an attempt allowing Louise Valliere to bind a replacement of some sort."
"I beg your pardon, Your Majesty?" Mazarin inquired. "A replacement?"
"Not once have I said the target I had in mind was the World Tree," Titania stated neutrally. "Kirito's eloquence in saying how important the World Tree is to us aside, I find it highly improbable for the World Tree to be the target. The so-called 'Hearts of Yggdrasil' might be the fundamental pieces of the 'shared dream' as you called it, and stands to reason summoning these may bring over the entirety of Alfheim, it is unlikely to be what happened.
"Looking through the collected data, there are criteria for the summoned familiars; that the familiar is a reflection of the mage in aspects such as magical capability, temperament and so on. Furthermore, the familiar must be able to actively protect the mage in some manner. I find it hard to see how the mindless World Tree, or the similar 'Hearts of Yggdrasil', can fit any of these criteria.
"There were claims that your Founder bound familiars before he devised the ritual, was there not?" Titania asked. "If that was the case – or even if it wasn't, but such an action is doable – then we give Louise Valliere an alternative familiar, one that is custom-built to be the most suitable for her. This will hopefully repair her magic and allows for attempts to devise a method to return the people of Alfheim home. And if it does not, then we sever the connection and try again – if the aforementioned tests on the binding proves this to be possible."
Silence greeted the end of Titania's words, as Henrietta exchanged glances with Mazarin.
"… We will need time to consider this, Your Majesty," Mazarin said politely. "Enough to see if there will be volunteers, if nothing else."
"In the meantime however, we will continue to work on the Treaty," Henrietta directed her words to Pieter. "Tristain is willing to leave some things open for later discussion, if we can finish a preliminary document quickly for the sake of stability."
"I am not one of the delegates that will make the treaty decision on behalf of Alfheim, but I will make it known to my colleagues that I support reciprocating this show of good faith," Pieter replied respectfully. "I will also hope that this issue will be resolved satisfactorily for both sides."
The meeting adjourned soon afterwards, and Kirito flied as fast as he could on the way back to Arrun, without leaving Pieter behind too much. The Spriggan needed to have a private conversation with Titania.
===
Side notes: Kirito's Elucidator not being the best gear is from the SAO side story 'Sound of Water, Sound of Hammer'.
The bit about Kirito shouldering the entire frontlines for a Quest was from SAO Progressive Vol3, 'Monochrome Concerto'. Long story short, Kirito took on the 'Emerald Key' multi-floor Quest that forced you to pick a NPC side, and he (plus Asuna & a NPC onee-san) had to complete the quest while making sure the Frontliners at the time didn't self-destruct because the two leading guilds picked opposing sides.
The morality bit may not fit the traditional Japanese POV, but seeing as Kirito is one of those 'social outcasts' I'm thinking he'd be closer to the independent 'Western' POV side of the spectrum compared to some others.
===
Chapter 28
-][-
The faeries entered the designated meeting room at the Academy, escorted by Viscount Wardes. After Kirito and the others were seated, the Knight-Captain withdrew from the room. The meeting was between the highest powers of Tristain and Alfheim, and only a select few were allowed to attend. The pleasantries began, with both sides tentatively probing the others' approach to the meeting. The dangers were most likely from the faeries' words, as opposed to any outside interference.
On the faerie's side, three individuals attended. Headmaster Osmond took in the view of the Fairy Queen's emissary; Kirito was garbed in black plate armour trimmed in silver, which judging from its shoulder-pads counted as 'light-weight' armour. In spite of the seemingly thin protection, the Headmaster didn't doubt that the Royal Protector's defences were anything less than indomitable; there were faerie scripts engraved into the armour trim, and if the elder mage was a betting man he would have wagered those scripts functioned the same as protective runes did in Halkeginia. Add the fact that during the treaty the faeries' offered their metallurgy skills to help Tristain create items as a mean of exchange, even without enchantments Kirito's thin armour alone likely physically surpassed Tristains finest heavy steel armour.
Instead of the two swords Kirito normally had with him as a bodyguard, the Spriggan had two small cylinders attached to his belt. Wands? Osmond thought, before realizing his error – no, those were hilts. The Romalian Church Knights had techniques that created small blades of elemental energy on top of their staves, transforming their blunt melee weapon into spears at will, so it was not impossible if the faeries had better weapons that allowed them to do something similar. Given the faeries' magical superiority, creating a larger blade magically that would normally be impractical for human mages was likely not out of their expertise. Osmond regarded those small cylinders as more intimidating than if the Royal Protector had brought along his usual metal longswords.
A similar hilt was also belted to the large man who accompanied Kirito, who had skin that was even darker than any Germanian Osmond has ever met. He was introduced as 'Agil', a negotiator under Kirito's command. The Gnome – though Osmond really couldn't distinguish the physical differences between faeries, unless there were drastic differences such as the Cait Sith's ears and tail – was dressed in a foreign fashion; Agil had a tie of sorts over a white collared shirt, and a black coat and pants over those. A tidy and unassuming look, generally speaking.
The third member that came with Kirito bore no visible implements, weapons or otherwise. He wore a similar half-cape like the other Faerie Lords, along with a robe that Osmond suspected to be a standard formalwear among the Fae leadership; Lady Alicia wore a similar outfit, albeit in different colours. Kirito introduced him as Pieter, the leader of the Puca faeries – and more importantly, a comparatively neutral member of the ruling Faerie Lords. At least, when compared to the opposing ends of the spectrum that Lady Sakuya and Lord Mortimer represented. The Fairy Queen seemed to have wanted to stress she held no particular preference to either the Sylph's or the Salamander's method of doing things, despite her willingness to send troops on a moment's notice.
While some eyebrows were raised over the leader of a race of musicians and performers attending such an important meeting, Osmond knew better than to underestimate such a person; extrapolating from how a race of crafters and smiths could enchant simple jewellery into weapons of destruction, a mage of music was likely to be just as ridiculous in capability. Charming words might literally be enchanting, and spells could possibly be woven with a simple hum. It took Kirito a word to obtain a weapon to kill someone thirty mails away, with the same amount of breath Pieter could likely destroy the entire room without effort. It may be a testament to how seriously the faeries were taking the negotiations, sending in such powerful people; even more than in Halkeginia, those socially higher up in Alfheim tended to be stronger and more martially skilled than those below them.
In contrast, Tristainians had Princess Henrietta, Cardinal Mazarin, and Old Osmond himself to negotiate – and only the Headmaster was a credible threat if things deteriorated to a fight. Even with two experienced Square class mages behind them, the sisters which were the Princess' bodyguard in recent times, Osmond was not confident the Princess could escape unscathed if in the worst case scenario Undercurrent somehow once again managed to attempt another assassination attempt.
Not like it would be easy for Undercurrent to do so; the meeting was held on top of the Tower of Fire, a research-based area of the Academy, isolated from the bustle that was the main tower. There was no-one to disguise as or reach them through the dozens of mage-knights stationed within the tower around the meeting. Additionally, there was no way to dig to the meeting, and mage-knights were thick in the air to prevent approach from that angle. Nobody went alone anywhere, decreasing the chances of ambush and subsequent brainwashing; and without having to protect the Faerie Lords, the faeries would be more likely to directly intervene to stop an attack.
The dangers of this meeting would be more likely from an error in negotiation than from an outside intrusion.
-][-
Henrietta kept her nervousness from showing, even as she introduced Cardinal Mazarin and Headmaster Osmond to the faeries that accompanied Kirito. Unlike in the treaty, the Princess took centre-stage for the gathering that day, as it was not meeting between negotiators but instead between royalty and their direct representatives. The rebellion in Albion aside, the various royal families held unquestioned divine mandate to rule bestowed upon them by God, the Founder and the Void – such meetings between monarchs were the kind that could make or break a nation's fate, given the kind of concentrated powers each monarch held in Halkeginia over their domain. And that was without bringing into account the Fairy Queen's position as akin to a Greater Spirit, where one perceived insult spelled disaster for the land. On the scale that Titania worked at, Henrietta thought it would not be surprising if the Fairy Queen could personally erase the Academy and Tristain's Capital from the continent's surface should she feel the necessity to do so.
In comparison, Kirito didn't manage to hide all of his nervousness. The Royal Protector was not as good as a dissembler as the Tristainians were, although he could follow every verbal thrust and parry. Kirito's eyes were still sharp, and his posture led Henrietta to conclude the Spriggan was no stranger to fierce negotiations. Rather than sitting down in front of a table in a formal negotiation though, Kirito probably was used to a more informal setting, such as in a strategy meeting arguing where best to deploy their assets.
In spite of that, disregarding how the meeting was ostensibly one where the gathered parties would cast away all pretences, it felt like it was anything but so; every word was a possible feint, and every sentence filled with double meanings and half-truths. It was more nerve-wrecking than the treaty meetings with the Faerie Lords.
Still, Henrietta vowed, she would not have the meeting result in greater harm for Tristain. Her responsibilities and honour demanded it.
-][-
During the conversation, Kirito tried to keep an indiscreet eye on the two mages standing at the back of the room. He failed at the 'discreet' part miserably, however, and settled for blatant wariness towards the two. In terms of numbers of combatants, it was Kirito and Agil against the Headmaster and the other two mages – the rest of the people present just didn't have the fighting instincts to be a real threat, their raw magical talent aside.
The sisters – at least, judging by their physical similarities Kirito thought they were related – were pinging Kirito's <<Hypersense>> in addition to the instincts the Spriggan picked up back in Aincrad. While Kirito could justify the Hypersense being a false positive, as the <<Outside System Skill>> picked up on both hostile intent towards him and observation – being the center of attention for the meeting qualified, unlike when he was in the background as a bodyguard – he couldn't dismiss his instincts so easily.
Those two mages bothered Kirito. It wasn't solely because they were what Tristainians classed as 'Square Mages' played a factor – though given the kind of spells they were throwing out against Undercurrent when the assailant attacked, they definitely counted. How they looked at him without even a bit of fear definitely played a part; every Tristainian Kirito encountered treated the 'faeries' as similar to the Firstborns in Halkeginia, their cautious gaze betraying at least a bit of fear in them deep down. Back in SAO such reactions were common when a new Floor was reached, and Frontliners scrutinized every new Mob in case the unknown struck one more name off the monument in the <<Black Iron Palace>>.
Granted, Kirito had the <<Runebound>> armour on him, but Kirito didn't put too much stock on the best level of gear; by Floor 70s, Kirito stuck with his <<Elucidator>> monster drop from all the way back at Floor 50, despite upgrading it to a more recent monster drop would have been cheaper to maintain. If it was a choice between one person having the best equipment available, and two additional above-average Frontliners with him on a raid, Kirito would have picked the latter given the versatility with more people. More skills, more chances to attack, more healing, and so on; such things were more helpful than a mere increases in stats, or additional abilities.
If it came down to a fight between the two sides, Kirito considered himself as the only fighter on their side; Pieter was to teleport out if things went sour, and Agil didn't come fully equipped for a fight – the Gnome's light-battleaxe was only as a last resort. The Headmaster plus two additional Square class mages, versus Kirito and his set of armour – Kirito would place the odds as favouring the Tristainians.
Not that the Spriggan planned on letting things deteriorate that far. Kirito had done a fair share of <<Quests>> back in Aincrad, the meeting with Princess Henrietta was but another roleplaying mission. Admittedly, one with unprecedented stakes, with the wellbeing of 60,000+ player on the line; the most Kirito had done was shouldering the entire Frontline's worth, back on Floor 3 when they numbered less than a hundred players. Nevertheless, Kirito was confident they would succeed in defusing the situation.
Even if things had taken a more serious turn.
-][-
"To business, then," Henrietta began. "First of all, Lord Kirito, is it true Queen Titania has agreed to let the Faerie Lords to make decisions on her behalf?"
"That's right," Kirito nodded. "Apart from a few guidelines, such as what Yggdrasil can create on Tristain's behalf, the Faction Leaders have free reign."
"If so, then may I ask why someone of your status was present at the treaty?" Henrietta questioned. "It seems suspicious that the Fairy Queen's right hand man was observing if Queen Titania trusted them – not that we're suggesting any doubts on the Faerie Lords' part, Lord Pieter."
"None taken," the Puca replied with a shrug, before shifting his gaze back to Kirito in time to see his response.
"The responsibility for my presence at the treaty lies with me as much as it did with Titania," Kirito said. "I volunteered for the bodyguard post because it fitted my skills as a fighter – and because of my previous experience. The… 'Veterans', as you might call us, from the Aincrad Campaign are the most experienced combatants compared to others, especially if it involved going as far as taking another human – well, sentient's – life."
Kirito's expression tightened.
"Death was a relatively riskless procedure in Alfheim, before the Transition happened. Not as bloody and painful as it is now. Those of us that was trapped in Aincrad experienced a similar situation, and because of this we adapted to this crisis better than the others. Of the veterans, I was the strongest available, and not inexperienced with escort missions; which sums up my reasoning for volunteering. I honestly didn't expect to have to take up the role as a negotiator."
Henrietta frowned. The Princess too was personally trained in how to fight with her magic, even if she had never killed someone in the heat of combat. She had interacted with other mages enough though to see how the burden of taking a life weighed upon them – a General that fought in a war decades ago held a different perspective than a newly knighted Royal Guard, for example. The seemingly young man in front of Henrietta felt more like the former example than the latter, true, but the Princess had to wonder how much of it was genuine care. With her position, Henrietta couldn't afford not to consider if Kirito's words was tailored to deliberately appeal to her emotional side, taking advantage of her inexperience with such things. Such was the responsibilities and stakes involved at the level of rulers.
"I do not doubt your ability to protect your charges, Lord Kirito," Henrietta replied. "Though that aspect of things is at most a tangent to the main point: if you, as the Fairy Queen's Representative, was available, then why did you not take a seat at the treaty?"
"It's likely that Lady Sakuya and others surpass me when it comes to formal negotiations," Kirito answered. "Even if I took a seat directly the discussions wouldn't have improved. I couldn't have added anything the others didn't."
Henrietta raised an eyebrow at that response.
"Even someone of your status couldn't have overruled Lord Rufus, for example?" Henrietta asked. "Or Lady Sakuya, depending on the situation? With Queen Titania's authority it seems unbelievable if that was truly the case."
Kirito frowned for a moment, before his eyes widened in realization.
"Oh, right…" Kirito murmured. "Different background settings…"
Speaking in a louder voice, Kirito went on. "There seems to be a misconception in how the Faction Leaders and Titania interact, Your Highness. Am I correct to believe that in Halkeginia and Tristain the Crown is the ultimate authority in the realm? Where the wishes of the reigning monarch are supreme, even beyond the law?"
"Technically, that's true…" Henrietta admitted. "Though the monarch still has to act accordingly to their station and responsibilities. We shouldn't let our whims dictate our actions, to the detriment of our nation and our people."
"But strictly speaking, there is nothing to stop you from making an unpopular decision?" Kirito stressed the point. "You may lose the support of the nobles, but you would still be considered in the right, as befitting of your authority?"
"Yes," Henrietta guardedly agreed; it was obvious that Kirito was leading up to a point of some kind.
"Such a set-up does not exist in Alfheim," Kirito said bluntly.
"… What?" Henrietta wondered if she heard correctly.
"As Mortimer has said already, the title of 'Fairy Queen' is not really accurate," Kirito continued. "Titania rules over all of Alfheim, except for directly over the faeries and their cities. In the end, the Faction Leaders are the ones that are in charge of the people, with Titania's involvement in this area only things such as providing resources of various kinds. And since it is more likely that Tristain will be in contact with the 'faeries' than Titania in the day-to-day interactions, at least before we are sent back to our world, the Faction Leaders are ultimately the ones to go to."
"Even so, that doesn't explain how the Faerie Lords defer to Queen Titania," Henrietta said as mind whirled at the implications. None of the countries in Halkeginia used such a system, not even Germania which was established without a kind of legitimacy that linked back to the Founder. Only one supreme power was needed to reign over the state, as diluting the authority would only mean conflict between the ruling powers. Even Reconquista, with all of their treachery, wouldn't hand over power to any other party outside of their leading nobles.
"The main reason why they do so is because Titania enforces the rules – the laws – that Alfheim lives by," Kirito replied. "Not because of any traditional or religious justifications. Titania is the essential piece that allows Alfheim to function as it is now."
"Expanding on that," Pieter inputted. "We don't obey Titania only because she has a hold over us, or because she holds vastly more power in areas such as military and magic. The Faction Leaders hold Titania in high regard because of her role in our society; we might disagree with some of her actions, but there is no denying all the work and effort she expends is for our sake. She deserves our respect at least, even if not our fealty."
"I must admit, I'm curious in how Alfheim's society can function under this system," Old Osmond said inquisitively. "Differences in jurisdiction aside, in terms of authority both Queen Titania and the Council of Faerie Lords are equal?"
"That's right," Kirito nodded. "The system is set up so there is no one absolute sovereign for Alfheim. Titania also wishes to have a separate entity that could check her actions in case she makes a mistake. No offence to the royalty of Halkeginia, but we don't believe in concentrated power at the pinnacle of the country; the reason why was clearly demonstrated in the aftermath of Duchess Valliere's attack on Gatan. Titania had considered going to war right then and there, and was ready to deploy troops immediately, before the Faction Leaders calmed her down. If there was nobody to act as a balance to Titania's power, she would have done something we would all regret."
Henrietta felt a chill went down her spine. The Princess remembered the golems that encircled the Valliere Manor when she was passing by, and she had overheard what Duchess Valliere said about them to the Duke before her departure for Tristainia.
"Not that I am unthankful about that crisis being averted," Henrietta said uneasily, "but the more I hear, the less I am convinced Alfheim truly wishes for peace. With the vast disparity between our two sides, there seems to be no reason why Alfheim should consider Tristain its equal and negotiate accordingly. It seems unbelievable that Alfheim didn't take the easier option to complete an invasion first before forcing Tristain to the negotiation table, and eliminating any naysayer in the process."
Kirito winced. "'When something seems to be too good to be true, it probably is'?" Kirito asked. At Henrietta's nod, the Spriggan sighed.
"Well, the main reason – and probably the most unbelievable one from Tristain's point of view – is that those of us that have the power to make decisions on behalf of others don't want to take that step. We do not wish for lives to be lost and people to suffer – on both sides. It goes against the morality we learned as we grew up. There isn't even the justification that it is necessary for us to harm others to get what we want, with the current power differences; so we refuse to resort to violence just because it might make things easier for us. We're better than that – we should be better than that.
"Then again, like I said that's probably unbelievable when looking from the other side of things," Kirito shook his head. "When someone tells you he will be merciful and not hurt you, and he definitely can if he wanted to, it's hard to believe him. Even more so if it's not just you he might hurt, but everyone you're responsible for as well. You can't afford to blindly trust someone in that situation, no matter how much you might want to, because lives other than your own are on the line… that was a bloody lesson everyone back on Aincrad learned. Entire guilds has been killed off by Laughing Coffin before we finally realized that, as tragic as it is, believing in the goodness of other people is a luxury afforded only to those that can take care of themselves first."
Kirito's eyes took on a faraway look for a moment, his words tinged by bitterness. Before Henrietta could ask for clarification, Kirito continued:
"A more realistic reason was the lack of information our sides have on each other to begin with," Kirito said clinically, breaking out of his mood. "When Duchess Valliere attacked Gatan, we had no idea what standards to hold Halkeginian mages to. Was the Duchess one of the elite mages, or was she just a scout that was around the weakest among the local mages? Without any exceptions, there's not a single faerie in Alfheim that could have caused as much damage as she did single-handedly. Especially not in such a short period of time. Rufus could pump himself up with every artefact Demnann possessed in order to match that kind of power, and that would only result in him imploding himself; ordinary faeries don't have that kind of output. As for Titania, without the backing of the World Tree not even she could accomplish damage on such a scale. What the Duchess did was something truly monstrous by our standards, even without taking the morality of her actions into account.
"The prospects for us at that time was either the Duchess was one of the few elites, or mages like the Duchess would be no rarer than the common soldier in this new world we found ourselves in. Taking the side of caution, Titania proceeded on the basis of the worst case scenario and created defences that would stand up to even an army of mages, even if every member of it was at the same level as 'The Tempest'. It was only afterwards that we discovered Duchess Valliere wasn't merely an elite, but someone whose skill is considered Legendary – in other words, our protection is considered beyond 'Overkill' by local standards for self-defence."
"As to where we go from here," Kirito paused. "For now Titania won't escalate further, unless Alfheim is attacked first. However, the Spirits such as the Phoenix will not be removed from the Capitals – our people need reassurances that there will not be a repeat of what happened to the Salamanders. I hope you can sympathize with that."
Henrietta nodded mutely. Although any sympathy on her part was overshadowed by the possible threats revealed to her by Kirito's earlier words. While it was understandable for the Fairy Queen to react as she did, the Princess was not assured of that much power being held back only by the tender mercies of the Faerie Lords.
"If I may go on a tangent, Lord Kirito," Cardinal Mazarin said, interrupting Henrietta's thoughts. "How did Alfheim's current system come to pass? Why does Queen Titania care about the wellbeing of the faeries, when there is an uneven exchange between the two sides? She is neither worshipped or otherwise socially elevated above the rest of Alfheim, compared to the mages in Halkeginia who enjoy a higher status as they protect those without magic. In cases such as the Water Spirit of Ragdorian Lake, at least the nobles involved in a pact with it have a duty to keep undesirable elements away from the lake, or to offer regular tributes. The Fairy Queen however what I have heard obtains no such benefits, as trivial as such actions may be to her."
Henrietta's eyes widened imperceptibly. Mazarin pressing for information on the Fairy Queen to discern whether it would be safe to pursue the binding was understandable, especially in light of just how outclassed Tristain was in comparison; though pushing forward in such an action under the circumstances was a reckless move by the Regent's standards.
"… I have nothing to offer on this matter," Kirito replied slowly. "At least, nothing you'd believe. The best I can say is that it is Titania's nature to govern all of Alfheim to the best of her abilities – and the wellbeing of the faeries is included as part of that governance."
Mazarin nodded. It fitted with the Tristainians' hypothesis that Titania thought alone the lines of a Greater Spirit, their thoughts aligned only with a few concerns to an almost obsessive level in a human. The Fairy Queen likely had something like 'Order' and 'Peace' as part of her focus, while the Water Spirit fixated on 'Purity'. It bothered Henrietta though, that Kirito considered that line of reasoning to be 'unbelievable' in their eyes – there was likely something more to Titania than being a tremendously powerful Greater Spirit. Glancing at the Puca Lord, the Princess found no discomfort on his part; meaning whatever secret there was to the Fairy Queen, it was something known to the Faerie Lords as well.
"That would explain Queen Titania's interest in the Treaty, even if she wasn't the Faerie Lords' superior," Mazarin allowed. "As a verification, Lord Kirito, Queen Titania does not wish to partake in negotiations? Additionally, she has allowed the Faerie Lords to use her authority by proxy for the purpose of the Treaty?"
Kirito nodded.
"In terms of dealing with the faerie population, and to a lesser extent for the rest of Alfheim, the Faerie Lords hold as much legitimacy as the Fairy Queen? Disregarding any coercion by force on Queen Titania's side?"
Another nod. "Though I'm obliged to point out that Titania has yet to overrule any decision that's supported by a majority of the Faction Leaders," Kirito added, indifferent to the possible insult on Titania's repute.
"My apologies, if it seems I am questioning Queen Titania's honour," Mazarin quickly corrected his earlier wording. Though with the power imbalance between the Fairy Queen and the Faerie Lords, it was hard to rule out that while formally the two sides was equal the royalty held much more power than their counterpart in Alfheim.
"Nevertheless," Mazarin added, "in the interests of a speedy resolution it may be for the best if Queen Titania formally assigns an official representative to attend the Treaty, even if it is in name only; Halkeginia places a lot of weight on the royal name, and thus more willing to accept concessions."
"The Leaders taking part in the treaty having that designation isn't enough?" Agil queried in a deep voice.
"Not when they are divided in opinion," Mazarin replied. "There is no certainty from the royalty's side as it is now; compared to Tristain's side for example, other nobles may advise us but ultimately the decision is dependent on the decision made by Princess Henrietta and myself. As befitting of the authority of royalty, as Lord Kirito confirmed just before."
"But that leads to a problem of favouritism," Kirito said with a grimace. "Alfheim's current delegates are polarized into two sides, and Titania supporting one side openly will cause issues. Not to mention that Sakuya and the others are the best negotiators we have."
"I have to ask, do we really need to hedge our bets for the Treaty discussions before it's signed?" Pieter asked with an eyebrow raised. "Does getting the best deal here means the end of everything? There are already topics subject to later discussion, for example the trade agreements for metal processing – I don't see why everything needs to be done now."
"You'll have to ask Sakuya and the others about that," Kirito frowned. "They probably want the best for their people, and I guess getting it all done here with other Leaders to back them up is probably the more secure option."
Henrietta pondered why Lady Sakuya and the others might have been feeling insecure, as they had a safety net of military force to fall back on. While unpleasant, it was still a viable option if it was available. The various Faerie Lords weren't inexperienced novices at negotiations either, given their showing so far.
"Tristain is willing to speed up the negotiations as well, leaving it open for further negotiation at a later date and address the details after the signing," Mazarin nodded. "In light of outside parties wishing to disrupt our negotiations, it may be best if we complete this alliance swiftly before it collapses on us."
"Mortimer and others will probably go for it," Pieter mused. "Rufus might want to wring out a few more concessions first, but the others can probably keep him in check."
"It may be a tolerable loss for Tristain, if we can finish things quickly," Mazarin agreed. Whether the Cardinal was talking about it being tolerable for the swift resolution, or for the upcoming gamble, Henrietta wasn't sure.
"What if there is an alternative to the Treaty?" Mazarin asked. "For example, the citizens of Alfheim may be able to be returned soon?"
That got the attention of all of the faeries present. Henrietta suppressed a wince, as she was unsure whether she wished to risk the Cardinal's move; considering that they have at least secured a peaceful resolution to the Treaty just then, the Princess wasn't sure if they should risk the faeries' wrath at that point instead of after the Treaty was signed. However, the Cardinal definitely considered it a risk worth taking, and Henrietta's own experience in negotiations wasn't enough to conclusively decide that was a bad idea.
"I doubt things are that simple," Kirito noted suspiciously. "If it is, then it would be Headmaster Osmond who's breaking the news to us. For the Regent to do so, there's likely more to it than a simple academic solution."
"That's correct," Mazarin concurred respectfully. "There's a bit of politically sensitive circumstances involved, and let it be said upfront that we mean no insult to either Titania or Alfheim."
"…" Kirito showed a thoughtful expression for a second, before his gaze sharpened. The Royal Protector was likely up to date with the researchers' findings, and the circumstances for his and Louise's encounter meant he could guess what would be asked.
"If this is about trying to bind Titania-" Kirito growled out, before the Cardinal hastily explained that it was the World Tree that Tristain was aiming to testing their hypothesis on, not the Fairy Queen.
"It's close enough," the Spriggan said flatly. Kirito twitched like he wanted to go for his weapons, and everyone else in the room was on edge from his actions. "No, this is not going to happen-"
[I wouldn't come to that conclusion so soon, Kirito.]
Kirito froze as his Medallion materialized and lit up, flashing with every word spoken through it. A female voice echoed throughout the room.
[Depending on the circumstances, I am willing to consider a binding attempt.]
"Titania," Kirito said agitatedly, confirming Henrietta's suspicions to the identity of the person speaking. Not for the first time, Henrietta was struck by the informality of the faeries, and such ways of addressing their social superiors so casually applied even to their highest ranked individual. Although the Princess frowned at the impolite tone Kirito was taking with his liege. "You've been listening?"
[When I said you are my representative, Kirito, I meant it as more than just a symbolic position,] Titania replied neutrally. Henrietta thought the Fairy Queen's words held sarcasm that wasn't implied in her tone, but she might only have been imagining it. [I can see what you see, hear what you hear. As someone operating like I am there in person making the decisions, is it really surprising that I would want to have the raw data you are basing your choices on?]
"… I shouldn't be, in hindsight, but yes it does," Kirito said through clenched teeth. Henrietta was not reassured by the exchange between the two – Titania and the Faerie Lords having a delicate political balance was something Henrietta expected, but not between the Fairy Queen and her right-hand man. Such a development overshadowed any elation from the Fairy Queen's inclination to hear them out; something worse than a superpower nation dropping into her country would be a superpower nation in the midst of civil unrest, not unlike the disaster in Albion between the Crown and rebel Nobles there.
Henrietta resolved to calm the issue down before things blow up on them all.
-][-
Before Kirito could inquire further, the Princess intervened:
"Queen Titania, I presume?" Henrietta asked. "And may I also presume that further introductions are not necessary for all of us, if you have been listening in from the very beginning?"
[… That is correct,] Titania replied with a hint of approval. [It is good that we can bypass the irrelevant small talk. Can we get straight to the point of why Tristain believe a binding is a feasible option?]
"Why enter into the discussions now, Titania?" Kirito objected; Titania taking things into her own hands at that point was unexpected, and the Spriggan's mind raced to find a way to regain control. "Especially for something as risky as this? You're not the risk-taking type of person at all."
[When something like this could potentially solve all of our problems, do you expect me to just let the opportunity pass?] Titania said in an unemotional tone. [And if you believe that I will not take all precautions before allowing potentially dangerous actions done to anything related to Alfheim, I would be disappointed in your intellectual capability.]
"But we don't know enough about the risks-" Kirito began urgently.
[Why do you think I am intervening for?] Titania interrupted. [To obtain knowledge on the risks, before deciding one way or another. Disregarding the possibility without understanding the full details would be extremely foolish.]
"But-"
[Ask yourself; if Asuna was not relevant in such an action, would you still be against Tristain's proposal?] Titania replied acerbically.
Kirito clenched his fists forcefully. He had no words to counter that; if Titania did indeed take all precautions imaginable, and Asuna wasn't involved in the situation, Kirito might have heard Tristain out after all. The Spriggan was obsessive over the safety of his loved ones, but not to the extent he didn't understand the importance of getting everyone home. As an afterthought, Kirito was astounded that Titania conveyed that much emotion in her words just then – Titania wasn't usually that expressive, even at other times when she was showing her displeasure at Kirito's decisions.
[I deferred to your decisions when it came to politics and other such interactions, Kirito,] Titania continued, her voice returned to her impassive norm. [Because I acknowledge my lack of understanding of these areas. However, for a pure academic fact-finding discussion, I disagree that I am unsuitable to take part. In such cases, there is no excuse for falsehood; I believe it is perfectly in my right in such a case to respond harshly to incorrect information, should Tristain attempts to trick us into an unfavourable decision.]
"I assure you, Your Majesty, we would not think of doing such a thing," Henrietta stated politely. "The integrity of the Crown aside, if our attempt failed it would be the end of Tristain when Alfheim retaliate. We are not so brainless as to throw our lives away."
[We have an understanding, then,] Titania said. Kirito's Medallion stopped flashing momentarily, before glowing like a newly lit torch. Golden particles exuded from the Medallion, coalescing into an ethereal form behind the Royal Protector.
Kirito turned around to see the hologram that appeared. It wasn't Asuna's appearance that Titania took on for the meeting, even though it was the same dress. Kirito thought the general features were what Asuna might look like in ten years' time, at the prime of her life – if Asuna also had pale blonde hair and eyes with the colour of a clear sky.
"Titania, you-?"
"I am hardly going to bring my physical body to this meeting," Titania replied dryly. "This form will suffice for now. Is there any objection, Princess Henrietta?"
"None at all," Henrietta inclined her head. Shifting a glance to Kirito for a second before turning it back to Titania, Henrietta asked: "So, what does Your Majesty wish to know?"
"I've looked through the gathered notes on Halkeginian magic and the Familiar Summoning Ritual," Titania stated. "Before I make my decision either way on this proposal, I want to clarify a few points.
"Firstly, how is the binding anchored to the familiar?" Titania asked. "Does the familiar brand on the skin by itself suffice? Or is it something more? Moreover, does the magic stay within the runes, or does it seep into the familiar and take a further hold there? In other words, does the binding affect the flesh of the familiar? The physical heart, the mind? Or something even more metaphysical like the soul?"
"That, well…"
"I believe I can be of service here," Old Osmond inputted, seeing the Princess being overwhelmed by the difficulty of the questions. "The familiar bind is more than just the runes. For example, if the runes were positioned on a limb of the creature and that limb was removed, the contract is not annulled. As to where the magic anchors itself in the familiar… well, I can only offer my conjecture at this point, as this is not a well-researched area of magic.
"With the possible familiars include the more exotic creatures of Halkeginia – for example, a bugbear one of our new second-year students summoned recently. It is practically only a floating eye, and not a wholly physical one at that – which suggests the familiar bond affects more than just the body. The mind is likely affected, but as for the soul… your guess is as good as mine, Your Majesty. Human magic alone cannot conclusively prove the existence of the soul, let alone the manipulation of it."
"Human magic?" Titania frowned at the distinction. "Implying that non-human magic may be capable of this… you mean the 'Firstborn' races' magic?"
Kirito was distracted by the exchange between the Headmaster and the GM, so he wasn't sure if the glance he caught between the two mages at the back really happened or not. The Spriggan subvocalized a curse at himself for not being cautious enough, and tried pay attention to the two at the back as well.
"Halkeginia is not on good terms with the Firstborn races, so we don't know their full capabilities," Osmond explained. "From what I have heard however, the Water Spirit and its Ring of Andvari that was stolen could be capable of such a feat, returning the dead back to life – and such a feat isn't impossible for the other Firstborn races. We cannot know for sure though if it was a true revival, or merely an exceptionally convincing fake; because of our inability to perceive the soul directly."
"Something for us to ask the Water Spirit, then," Titania noted. "Anything else? Legendary artefacts and miracles, things like that?"
"The Founder's sacred Void may be capable of this as well," Osmond admitted, "but this branch of magic is one Halkeginia has not seen for millennia. It would be harder to test this claim than to approach the other Firstborn races."
"The familiar summoning spell and ritual was said to be devised by this 'Founder Brimir'," Titania asked, without skipping a beat. "So we cannot rule out the possibility of the ritual being able to do so?"
"The Founder's Void was also magic only he could wield," Osmond responded. "Or, if you believe some of the Church's records, his heirs who founded the four main kingdoms of Halkeginia. Regardless, it seems unlikely that a spell that every mage can cast is a spell of Void."
"A correction, then; extremely implausible, but not outright impossible," Titania established. "As much as we can put stock in that phrase in recent days. Seeing as we have no knowledge as to how the Void worked, we cannot rule out if your Founder had imparted some of his power into powering this ritual. After all, the ability to form portals and summonings in Halkeginian magic, outside of familiar summoning, only exist in Void magic, correct?"
"… It is as you say," Osmond concurred. "I can think of no elemental magic that could perform such a deed."
"My next point," Titania said. "Is it possible to bind a creature that was not summoned by the mage? For example, could Louise Valliere bind the World Tree, even if it was not what she summoned?"
"As far as I know, it should be impossible," Old Osmond admitted. "There were no such cases in recent history. Al we have to go on was the possibility that it was debatable whether the Founder's very first familiars were summoned, or if he bound them to him in some other manner; 6,000 years of time is not kind to the preservation of knowledge."
"As I've said, we've seen on how 'impossible' things can be with recent events," Titania remarked. "Mutually by the appearance of the Alfheim in this world, and Duchess Valliere's ability as a single mage on our part. We should assume nothing is impossible, for the time being.
"I have heard enough, I believe," Titania concluded. "To sum up: there is no guarantee of the extent of the effects of the familiar binding on the recipient. And while unlikely, it is possible the World Tree could be bound without it being the true target. Given these factors, I do not believe it is safe for the attempt on the World Tree."
Kirito sighed in relief at Titania's verdict, even as Henrietta and Cardinal Mazarin winced.
"Nevertheless," Titania said, to the chagrin of Kirito. "If further testing are done to analyse the effects of the runes, I may change my mind."
"That's ridiculous!" Kirito exclaimed. "Look, Titania, you know better than I do what happens if we lose the World Tree. We need the energy gathered by it for one thing, not to mention the-"
Kirito glanced at the Tristainians present. "-'Hearts of Yggdrasil', the source of all our advantages. If we lose those, it's Game Over."
"Be silent, Kirito," Titania admonished. "And allow me to finish my inquiry."
"First and foremost, testing the ability to sever the binding," Titania stated. "Have some of your mages who have familiars volunteer themselves; I want to know what has to stop functioning before the contract is terminated. Stopping the heart is the first thing that comes to mind, and I will see if reducing neural activity achieves the same outcome. This will be done to both the familiar and the mage, to see if there are any differences depending on the party whose connection is severed. Whether the runes – and its effects – stay after the contract's termination is also a point of interest, although I do not believe holding off on reviving the mages for more than the short term is feasible-"
"Excuse me, Your Majesty," Henrietta interrupted, her eyes widened. "You do realize that humans are not immortal as the faeries, correct?"
"I am aware that they are not reduced into a <<Remain Light>> upon death, or respawn at a different location," Titania said curtly.
"Then why-"
"Life and death for humans is not necessarily a binary, irreversible process," Titania claimed. "In many cases it is more like a spectrum. The recently dead can be revived, even without magic being involved. A stopped heart could be shocked back into activity, also the same with the brain; although with the brain there is a smaller margin for error. If we can sever the connection with ease, then I am more than willing to allow testing on Alfheim-related beings; if worse comes to worst, we disconnect the familiar bond, without the mage dying permanently."
The Princess was obviously in turmoil, after hearing Titania's words. Old Osmond and Mazarin had a thoughtful expression, but they were no less disturbed by what Titania said.
"Unless Louise Valliere is expendable?" Titania asked questioningly. "If Tristain feel the additional time taken is not worth Louise Valliere's life should things go wrong, we can skip that part of the testing-"
"No," Henrietta said hastily. "Please do carry out that part of the tests. But…"
"What?" Titania asked, arching one eyebrow.
"These methods go against what we know," Osmond said diplomatically. "At the very least, I would call these actions 'unsafe'."
"And the religious connotations of such actions are concerning," Mazarin added. "Even with Tristain's people being usually less devoted to the Church doctrine, I do not believe they want to risk the afterlife and the Gods' judgment with something as simple as an experiment."
"Your people fight for your royalty and country," Titania pointed out, "risking their lives in the process. I fail to see the difference in risking their lives in this regard. If anything, there would be less risks of dying in a controlled environment as compared to a battlefield with ever-changing circumstances."
"The reasons why someone would risk their life is important, Titania," Kirito finally spoke up, after clamping down on his emotions. "In some people's eyes, they might be willing to risk their lives for honour and glory in a fight, but they will never accept a death as a lab-rat."
"… You humans nearly always make things more complicated, do you not?" Titania said with slight distaste. "Regardless, without testing on the capability to sever the binding I am not willing to risk any sort of binding. Not even an attempt allowing Louise Valliere to bind a replacement of some sort."
"I beg your pardon, Your Majesty?" Mazarin inquired. "A replacement?"
"Not once have I said the target I had in mind was the World Tree," Titania stated neutrally. "Kirito's eloquence in saying how important the World Tree is to us aside, I find it highly improbable for the World Tree to be the target. The so-called 'Hearts of Yggdrasil' might be the fundamental pieces of the 'shared dream' as you called it, and stands to reason summoning these may bring over the entirety of Alfheim, it is unlikely to be what happened.
"Looking through the collected data, there are criteria for the summoned familiars; that the familiar is a reflection of the mage in aspects such as magical capability, temperament and so on. Furthermore, the familiar must be able to actively protect the mage in some manner. I find it hard to see how the mindless World Tree, or the similar 'Hearts of Yggdrasil', can fit any of these criteria.
"There were claims that your Founder bound familiars before he devised the ritual, was there not?" Titania asked. "If that was the case – or even if it wasn't, but such an action is doable – then we give Louise Valliere an alternative familiar, one that is custom-built to be the most suitable for her. This will hopefully repair her magic and allows for attempts to devise a method to return the people of Alfheim home. And if it does not, then we sever the connection and try again – if the aforementioned tests on the binding proves this to be possible."
Silence greeted the end of Titania's words, as Henrietta exchanged glances with Mazarin.
"… We will need time to consider this, Your Majesty," Mazarin said politely. "Enough to see if there will be volunteers, if nothing else."
"In the meantime however, we will continue to work on the Treaty," Henrietta directed her words to Pieter. "Tristain is willing to leave some things open for later discussion, if we can finish a preliminary document quickly for the sake of stability."
"I am not one of the delegates that will make the treaty decision on behalf of Alfheim, but I will make it known to my colleagues that I support reciprocating this show of good faith," Pieter replied respectfully. "I will also hope that this issue will be resolved satisfactorily for both sides."
The meeting adjourned soon afterwards, and Kirito flied as fast as he could on the way back to Arrun, without leaving Pieter behind too much. The Spriggan needed to have a private conversation with Titania.
===
Side notes: Kirito's Elucidator not being the best gear is from the SAO side story 'Sound of Water, Sound of Hammer'.
The bit about Kirito shouldering the entire frontlines for a Quest was from SAO Progressive Vol3, 'Monochrome Concerto'. Long story short, Kirito took on the 'Emerald Key' multi-floor Quest that forced you to pick a NPC side, and he (plus Asuna & a NPC onee-san) had to complete the quest while making sure the Frontliners at the time didn't self-destruct because the two leading guilds picked opposing sides.
The morality bit may not fit the traditional Japanese POV, but seeing as Kirito is one of those 'social outcasts' I'm thinking he'd be closer to the independent 'Western' POV side of the spectrum compared to some others.
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Ah they can bond over the despair from encountering Titania's awesomeness. (Note awesome can mean: Causing awe or terror; inspiring wonder or excitement.)
I'm not that worried about exposure, primarily I just want to get this story written out of my head ^.^; The muse nags me all the time to the point it becomes distracting, but killing the creative threads for good seems a bit of a waste as well. And my inspiration being uncooperative at times is a pain too (eg one time I was working on RL stuff and metaphorically told my muse to come back later - and when I did have time later my inspiration refuses to cooperate -.-).
As for Titania, well she's not going to be gone from the story any time soon.
I'm not 100% satisfied with this chapter, anything after the first segment is subject to a rewrite. Again, thanks to Fictiondevourer for beta-ing, without his help I don't think I could have gotten even this far for this chapter at this point of time.
===
Chapter 29
-][-
Kirito stomped into Titania's office, displeasure so obviously on his face that not even the AI could have missed it.
"I've said it before, if you have something to say to me then use the private messaging system," Titania remarked, without bothering to look away from her screen. She considered attempting to defuse the tension by making some inane comment about how he didn't visit with sandwiches for the visit, but she decided to discard such frivolity.
"What was that about the binding earlier?" Kirito said straightforwardly. "We have no guarantee that what we see in the testing will be true – observations can be wrong. A few tests, or even a week's worth of them, isn't going to change that by a lot."
"We won't be risking anything important; I was considering something like a repurposed World Tree Guardian, with all of its communications and connections to the rest of the systems removed," Titania said disinterestedly. "From how agitated you appear to be, it's like you have misheard me to having agreed to let them attempt a binding directly on the World Tree."
"You might as well have," Kirito said sourly. "Like you've said, 'nothing is impossible'. All we have is their word that Void is a lost magic, or that it does what they say it does. It might not even be a deliberate lie on their part. For all we know the binding on some random piece from Alfheim could end up with the binding on everything; some things are too important to be risked."
"Are you talking about Asuna, or the entirety of Alfheim?" Titania asked, finally shifting her eyes to look at the Spriggan.
"Both," Kirito replied. "You might not believe me, but I do care about the rest of the players in ALO."
"Just not as much as you do about Asuna," Titania said dryly. "Nevertheless," the GM said, forestalling Kirito's reactions, "my reasoning differ to yours; some things are too important to not take reasonable risks for. There is nothing in the Cardinal system that can return everyone back to Earth – that is even with the outright reality warping the administrator consoles are capable of, such as the spatial manipulation for the <<Bank Chests>> storage or creating items from nothing. In order to obtain the end goal of returning the players, we must look outside methods derived from Alfheim Online."
"It's the 'reasonable' part I'm worried about," Kirito argued. "Risking everyone for something we don't even know will work seems like a bad move. Take this slower, and see if after months of experimenting things still seem as promising or not."
"And I'll reply to you the same thing I said earlier:" Titania said bluntly. "If Asuna was returned to you, will you still be this persistent about it?"
"Yes, I will," Kirito said, looking Titania in the eyes. "We could all end up being screwed over anyway, doesn't matter if Asuna is still with you or not. This could affect you as well; don't you have a sense of self-preservation?"
"Of course I do," Titania replied. In terms of being able to continue to function to perform her duty at least, if not for fear of her continued existence – though Titania thought Kirito would be unlikely to be able to distinguish the difference.
"I have already made up my mind," Titania told Kirito. "And I am unlikely to change it with the reasoning you have given me thus far. If you have nothing else to say, leave."
"You…" Kirito clenched his fists. To Titania's surprise, the shade that stayed at the edge of the room approached Kirito, hesitantly placing one phantom hand on the Spriggan's shoulders.
Even through the Black Wyrm Coat, Kirito looked as if he felt the ghostly touch. The Spriggan whirled around, looking right at the shade – no, right through her. Titania saw Kirito's darting eyes flash green momentarily, before fading to normal.
"What is it?" Titania frowned. It was the first time for the GM seeing the shade to do something physical to Kirito throughout all of the visits that Kirito had come over the past few days; and the AI wondered what the shade was planning.
"… No, it's nothing," Kirito said, after closing his eyes and breathing deeply for a moment. "At least, I think it's nothing. <<Hypersense>> requires focus as well, and I'm not sure I'm clear-minded enough to use it properly right now."
Hypersense – a <<Outside System Skill>> from Aincrad. Titania's frown continued for a second more, before realizing she shouldn't have known those terms. The GM has never heard SAO players mention those terms through her surveillance using the Medallions, and Kirito have never said it when he was with her. Yet another bleed-through from Asuna, it seemed.
"Are you sure nothing could have came in without you knowing?" Kirito asked, wary of his surroundings.
"If something like that did happen, do you think I can tell either way?" Titania sniffed.
Kirito winced. "Yeah, dumb question."
"Returning to our previous topic," Titania said. "If you have time to waste to try and convince me, you should instead be using it to trying to convince the Faction Leaders into agreeing to let Asuna go. You have a 'Victory Condition', use it."
"We both know that's not going to happen any time soon," Kirito retorted. "Rufus and Mortimer aren't likely to change their minds once they decided on something, so that's two down from the nine Faction Leaders right there."
"… Fair enough," Titania conceded, much to Kirito's surprise. "It is rare that you humans can unanimously agree on anything, if we take a long look on decisions made politically on at least a national level; regardless of your distinctions between different cultures, there are always dissenters to the leading party. I am willing to make allowances so that this is not an impossible task.
"Convince seven of the nine Faction Leaders, and I will allow Asuna to be returned to you," Titania said finally. "I will even allow the decision to pass with only six Leaders' support, if they can offer a clear-cut plan as to how to move forward without my supervision for the next two months. Looking further than that is unlikely to net useful information, given the changing circumstances."
"… You're not joking, right?" Kirito said suspiciously, yet hopeful at the same time.
"I don't joke," Titania said flatly. "Yes, I'm serious. Now are you going to continue to take up my time or are you going to do something more productive?"
Kirito was out the door before Titania had finished speaking, only giving a small bow to the AI as he departed. The only ones left in the room were Titania and the shade.
|I don't see why you sent him off like that,| the shade said, tilting her head. |You could have easily calmed him down by telling him he'd get Asuna back in a few days.|
"I am… irked… by the idea that Kirito gets what he wants in the end not because of any virtue on his part, but solely because I can no longer oppose the outcome," Titania said. "That something as irrational, as obsessive as 'Love' triumph at the expense of the masses does not sit well with me.
"By the way, I'm surprised that Kirito noticed you," Titania commented. "I had thought you were just a hallucination in my head – none of the sensors I have could catch you in a recording. Yet, Kirito could sense you…"
|Things like me work off different rules, I guess,| the shade shrugged. |I think there's still a logic to how everything works, even if it doesn't seems so to you.|
Titania grimaced. While an AI like herself wasn't inflexible in changing her world-views, Titania didn't like the implication that the foundation of her directives was flawed. That to save many at the expense of a few was ultimately a doomed endeavour, the world inherently allowing it to be trumped by its opposite.
The GM shook her head, and went to work on her new host body; there was nothing to be gained by navel-gazing.
-][-
Sakuya managed to get Kirito and Yui into a meeting with the other Faction Leaders as they debated on the topic of retiring Titania – with the GM's course of action in regards to Tristain's proposal, they would not have a better chance to argue for Kirito's case. Not all of the neutral Leaders thought Titania's choice was a wise one, and the Sylph Leader had hoped to capitalize on those Leaders' indecision. As expected however, Rufus obstructed their way:
"We stand to lose more than we gain from supporting Kirito," the Leprechaun stated, in the midst of the discussion. "Everyone here agrees that Alfheim would be weakened without Titania – the only difference between us is that some of us believe it to be a cost worth paying in order to save someone. I definitely don't agree with that line of thought.
"I have nothing personal against you, Kirito," Rufus said to the Black Swordsman. "You look out for the benefit of yourself and the people you care about, and I can understand that. The only difference between us is who we choose to look after, and that in this situation our interests are mutually exclusive; as Faction Leaders we have to do the same for our Faction – it's the price of Leadership, after all. Unfortunately, it's not possible to save everyone and letting you get Asuna back could be detrimental for our interests, and I don't want to risk that."
"And you feel nothing about the tragedy that happened to Asuna?" Alicia asked.
"Why should I care about what happened to her in particular?" Rufus countered. "As opposed to similar circumstances that struck everyone else in ALO. It's not just Kirito that has lost contact with someone he cared about.
"If I get a couple of others to come in and give their story, would you guys vote for my view instead?" Rufus shook his head mournfully. "Then will you guys focus on getting everyone back to their loved ones, instead of postponing it? The Transition hit everyone, not just Kirito.
"I don't know about others, but I'm not that keen on letting Alfheim as a whole take a hit just so you can play family."
Kirito looked like he wanted retort, but it was Yui that spoke up instead:
"'Play' family?" The pixie said with a frown. "There are connotations of faking and frivolity in the use of the word. Are you suggesting the connections I have with Mama and Papa are insignificant?"
"Well, I wouldn't phrase it like that," Rufus shrugged. "But yes, something along those lines. You've been doing good work in keeping the players that ask for your help sane, Yui-chan, but I don't believe that justify this kind of special treatment. From what I've heard you're an AI, just like Titania; Kirito and Asuna aren't related to you, and the three of you have only been together for less than a month. The connection you have with them aren't as deep, as real, as what other people have with each other. Can you really argue the three of you deserve happiness, at the expense of everyone else?"
Sakuya was gobsmacked, and she could see similar reactions to a varying extent from other Leaders; even Mortimer raised a thin eyebrow in response. The Sylph Leader could hardly believe Rufus' callous words – did he not know how hurtful his words were? Even if Yui wasn't human, her childlike manner suggested she would be tremendously upset by Rufus' claims.
Kirito trembled, looking like he was about to explode. The only reason he held back seemed to be he couldn't decide how to hurt Rufus as much as he could, with the options he had to him. Before the Black Swordsman did anything however, Yui responded:
"Yes, I can argue my connection aren't fake," the small AI said determinedly.
"Oh?" Rufus raised an eyebrow in response.
"When I said I'm Papa's daughter, I don't mean something as simple as being adopted by the two Sword Art Online players named Kirito and Asuna," Yui shook her head. "Do you know how I was transferred into Alfheim Online from Sword Art Online?"
"I admit, I am curious about that myself," Mortimer inputted. "As powerful and experienced as Kirito was in SAO, he was still only a player in the game – he shouldn't have been able to take control of an AI as important as yourself."
"There were exceptional circumstances at the time," Yui told everyone. "At the start of Sword Art Online being locked down, <<Cardinal>>, due to Kayaba Akihiko's doing, forbade me to contact players in person. This was in direct conflict with my purpose to help players when their mental state are being negatively affected, and my impulse to help clashed with my inability to act. For two years I could do nothing but watch player suffer from feelings such as fear, rage, and despair. This eventually led to me, Mental Health Counselling Program 001, codenamed 'MHCP-001', 'Yui', breaking down from errors."
Sakuya held back a grimace – the kimono-clad Leader couldn't really imagine the full extent of what Yui went through. Judging by the expressions on many other Leaders, they feel similar to the Sylph. Sakuya had saw other players emotionally afflicted from afar, in the early days immediately after the Transition, and such a sight pained her; But at least Sakuya could feel she was accomplishing something, working to help everyone adjust, and to find a way to return everyone back to Earth. What would it be like, then, to be literally physically unable to help in any meaningful manner, from a position that could see their suffering constantly?
"It was when I found Papa's and Mama's mental state, that they were able to be truly happy and at peace even in Sword Art Online, that I was able to piece myself back together," Yui continued. "From what I know about human reproduction, an offspring between two people is made up by a mix of the two parents' DNA; it was a similar case with me. I attempted to rebuild my data composition by modelling my appearance and personality from the traits Papa and Mama had – this, in hindsight, might have been the reason why I had wanted to approach them, to want to be with them. Even then, I only stabilized after coming into direct contact with Papa and Mama as they found me wandering and lost."
Yui met Rufus' gaze steadily.
"I owe being who I am today to Papa and Mama, and not just because Papa managed to copy my files to his NervGear before I was deleted by Cardinal. Even though it's not in the sense of being related by blood, I believe I'm as close to being Papa and Mama's daughter as anyone can be – and such a relation is no more fake than one any human have with their parent or offspring."
"…"
Rufus spoke no words in response. Looking at the disapproval from around the room, the Leprechaun sighed.
"Well, I apologize for what I said about your family," Rufus yielded. "In hindsight, accusing someone that they're not their parents' child tend to be a bad move."
"Were you in a pixie form back in Aincrad too, Yui-chan?" Sasaki asked hesitantly. "If I heard right, there wasn't any magic-using NPCs like pixies in SAO."
In response, Yui levitated up from where she sat on Kirito's shoulders and began to glow. After a blinding flash of light later, a small human girl in a white one-piece dress that looked no older than ten landed onto the floor on her feet in the pixie's place. The similarity in facial features to Kirito and Asuna was there, apparent by the inherited beauty from her mother's side if nothing else. Yui's long black hair gleamed under the lights, and her skin was as pale as the snowy plains that used to be around the Gnome's Capital.
"This is what I looked like back in SAO," Yui stated, brushing a lock of hair away from her eyes with one hand. "I took up the <<Navigation Pixie>> form in ALO to prevent being located by the system as a error of some sort. Every step of the way since Papa travelled to the World Tree, I was there helping him and Leafa-san to get to Mama."
"And from what I've heard too, Kirito might have reached the top of the World Tree anyway," Morgiana shrugged. "I can respect that kind of dedication, if nothing else."
"That's all fine and good," Rufus said as he looked at the other Leaders. "However, I stand by my earlier point that the tragedy here is no more special than any other that happened to the players in ALO. I don't have children myself, but I can imagine how separation for the well-adjusted kids can hurt, being gone from their family. Same applies for any possible parents that might have kids not logged in when they were playing, and any other such case that led to suffering from separation.
"Imagine what happened here to Yui and Kirito multiplied by a thousand, or maybe ten thousand times – that's what happened to ALO," Rufus finished. "Shouldn't we work to reduce the suffering in general? Supporting Kirito means we could lose the ability to save many, many others – and I still believe that one family shouldn't be elevated above everyone else's needs."
"I think you all are falling into the trap of 'A single case is a tragedy, but a million cases is just a statistic'," Rufus argued. "That many of us struggle to imagine the scale of the problem, so we latch onto what we can understand. If I have to be seen as cold and heartless in trying to look on a larger scale, to put the interests of my Faction over others, then so be it. I'll warn you all though – don't be surprised if you get voted out and your successors decide to reverse this decision, once the other players find out what we did."
"That will only happen if we cannot deal with trouble effectively," Alicia replied. "The ALO players have no personal attachment to the 'Fairy Queen' – they care about what she does, not who she is. As long as we resolve everything that comes up, there wouldn't be a call to reinstate Titania – or for us to be replaced, for that matter."
"Not to mention," Thinker opened up a new window using his Medallion. "Titania's power will mostly remain available to us, and we can make decisions if we hold a vote on it. There'll be greater freedom for us to utilize this power for our Faction Capitals, for example if there was another attack like Gatan experienced the Faction Leader can authorize repairs without needing a vote. Only the core functions like the respawn mechanism that are out of our control, and I'm not sure we need to change those functions as it is now."
Rufus glanced around the room; Sasaki and Pieter looked like they supported that line of thought. Even Simon appeared to have made up his mind one way or another.
"I didn't want to resort to this," Rufus sighed, and began typing on a screen. Looking at the Undine's Leader, Rufus continued. "It's nothing personal, Thinker – but we all do what we have to do."
"What-"
Before the Undine Leader could finish however, a message reached Thinker's inbox with a 'ping!' sound. The fact that a message managed to get through the filters caught the attention of everyone in the room. In the Leaders' meetings messages what wasn't urgent normally were postponed until the meeting was over.
Opening it, Thinker paled upon reading the contents within the message.
"What is it?" Morgiana asked curiously.
"Due to circumstances having stabilized, Atlanta sent me a message asking to take over the official Faction Leader position for the Undines," Thinker said faintly. "We have a previous understanding that I will hand over my position when Faction Leaders strictly speaking didn't need to be present in Arrun, allowing her to work from Parasel. And she'd prefer it if I willingly pass the position back to her instead of forcing a vote, as fighting over political support isn't going to do any of us favours."
"Now?" The Spriggan Faction Leader said with a raised eyebrow. For some reason, Sakuya had a foreboding feeling about Thinker's next words.
"Yes, 'now'," Thinker said. "Before the vote to retire Titania proceeds, anyway."
"I forwarded Titania's message explaining the situation to us to Atlanta," Rufus explained. "Though I didn't expect her to be able to oust Thinker this quickly – maybe force him to abstain from this vote, at most."
Why that underhanded little… Sakuya thought unfavourably. Out loud, the Sylph Leader said instead: "What do you want to achieve with this move, Rufus? Even without Thinker, this will still be six votes supporting Kirito."
"As the representative of our factions, shouldn't our views reflect the people that voted us in and not just our personal ones?" Rufus shot back. "Thinker, can you honestly tell me most of the Undines would support a vote to retire Titania?"
"And what makes you so sure the Leprechauns think the same way as you are, Rufus?" Alicia commented. "If people really believed the same things you did, then I'm not sure why Vulcan was the Leader of the Leprechauns for all this time instead of you."
"If you have been keeping up with the politics a while back, Alicia, you'd know there was only one major difference between me and Vulcan," Rufus shrugged, uncaring at the Cait Sith's jibe. "Vulcan wanted to play it safe, and look for methods for Leprechaun to become stronger that was not dependent on other Factions – for example Quests and inherent racial advantages. I advocated for a more aggressive plan that secures the resources around Demnann and to weaken other Factions. Other than that, we agreed on most policies."
"So you say," Sasaki noted. "None of us can tell for sure though what happened behind closed doors in Demnann – spies usually don't last long in other Factions' Capitals."
"If you want to release information to the public and have them debate on it, I wouldn't mind," Rufus replied. "See if the Leprechauns really do think my way, if you want."
"You know full well we can't do that," Sakuya said sourly. "Letting everyone know Titania doesn't mind keeping a player captive for her own ends will definitely be bad for morale. It'll only fuel suspicions that Titania as an AI ultimately won't be acting for our benefit."
"Not to mention this would further alienate the SAO players from the ALO players," Mortimer remarked. "Their experiences in Kayaba Akihiko's Death-Game already set them apart. The friction between our two sides are mostly bypassed because of their contribution to adjusting to the Transition, and that we all work for a common goal. Creating divisions in our ranks, beyond the differences in opinions between us as Leaders, will only weaken us. And I do not want that to happen any more than losing the GM, none of those options would be beneficial."
"Alright, alright," Rufus put up his hands in gestures of surrender. "Just saying. Still, that doesn't change the 'conflict of interest' bit.
"Besides, I wouldn't be counting the votes too quickly, Sakuya," Rufus disputed. "If it's even just one more vote other than Thinker's lost to you, this issue will be shelved indefinitely. Unless everyone has made up their mind already?"
All eyes in the room rested on the neutral Leaders. Sasaki and Pieter declined to commit to either side for the moment however, and Simon shied away from giving a response.
"We'll let things between Thinker and Atlanta to be settled first," Pieter stated. "Then we'll make our decision."
The meeting was momentarily adjourned, while the Undines sorted things out. Sakuya was hopeful that Kirito could still be successful, but after Rufus' meddling the outcome became more doubtful.
-][-
An hour later, in one corridor in the upper levels of the World Tree, Kirito slammed a fist against the walls in frustration. The Spriggan tried to keep his composure, as Yui looked at him worriedly, but Kirito was struggling to do so. The vote didn't just fail – he didn't even get a majority in favour for him.
Atlanta did end up taking over from Thinker; he bowed to the inevitable, that he didn't have the social capital to keep the position as Leader for the vote. And as expected, Atlanta didn't support Kirito – otherwise Rufus wouldn't have bothered notifying her of the situation. While Atlanta asserted she was not Rufus' proxy, and would remain neutral in her dealings with all of the Faction Leaders, it was of little solace for Kirito when she didn't help him where it mattered most to him.
Ultimately, the vote was five to four in Kirito's favour; short of the minimum mark Titania set him. In addition to Atlanta, Simon went against retiring Titania – the timid Gnome being unwilling to take up more accountability, and wished for the security and support of an active GM.
The topic was unlikely to come up again in official Faction Leader meetings from that point on as well, unless a majority of Leaders vote to have it appear on the meeting agenda beforehand. While Atlanta didn't rule out changing her votes after further fine-tuning of the conditions, that would take time - time Kirito was loath to let pass by.
However, there was nothing left that Kirito could do except to wait.
===
After Ch30, Tristain's reaction to Ch28 and a bit more of Louise scenes, I'm removing all brakes and am going to drive the plot full speed ahead until the Treaty arc finishes (may or may not have minor speed bumps along the way). I want to get this and the next chapter over with soonish, my muse is battering my head with how to write out Ch31 to the point I can't focus on my RL stuff at times -.-
===
Chapter 29
-][-
Kirito stomped into Titania's office, displeasure so obviously on his face that not even the AI could have missed it.
"I've said it before, if you have something to say to me then use the private messaging system," Titania remarked, without bothering to look away from her screen. She considered attempting to defuse the tension by making some inane comment about how he didn't visit with sandwiches for the visit, but she decided to discard such frivolity.
"What was that about the binding earlier?" Kirito said straightforwardly. "We have no guarantee that what we see in the testing will be true – observations can be wrong. A few tests, or even a week's worth of them, isn't going to change that by a lot."
"We won't be risking anything important; I was considering something like a repurposed World Tree Guardian, with all of its communications and connections to the rest of the systems removed," Titania said disinterestedly. "From how agitated you appear to be, it's like you have misheard me to having agreed to let them attempt a binding directly on the World Tree."
"You might as well have," Kirito said sourly. "Like you've said, 'nothing is impossible'. All we have is their word that Void is a lost magic, or that it does what they say it does. It might not even be a deliberate lie on their part. For all we know the binding on some random piece from Alfheim could end up with the binding on everything; some things are too important to be risked."
"Are you talking about Asuna, or the entirety of Alfheim?" Titania asked, finally shifting her eyes to look at the Spriggan.
"Both," Kirito replied. "You might not believe me, but I do care about the rest of the players in ALO."
"Just not as much as you do about Asuna," Titania said dryly. "Nevertheless," the GM said, forestalling Kirito's reactions, "my reasoning differ to yours; some things are too important to not take reasonable risks for. There is nothing in the Cardinal system that can return everyone back to Earth – that is even with the outright reality warping the administrator consoles are capable of, such as the spatial manipulation for the <<Bank Chests>> storage or creating items from nothing. In order to obtain the end goal of returning the players, we must look outside methods derived from Alfheim Online."
"It's the 'reasonable' part I'm worried about," Kirito argued. "Risking everyone for something we don't even know will work seems like a bad move. Take this slower, and see if after months of experimenting things still seem as promising or not."
"And I'll reply to you the same thing I said earlier:" Titania said bluntly. "If Asuna was returned to you, will you still be this persistent about it?"
"Yes, I will," Kirito said, looking Titania in the eyes. "We could all end up being screwed over anyway, doesn't matter if Asuna is still with you or not. This could affect you as well; don't you have a sense of self-preservation?"
"Of course I do," Titania replied. In terms of being able to continue to function to perform her duty at least, if not for fear of her continued existence – though Titania thought Kirito would be unlikely to be able to distinguish the difference.
"I have already made up my mind," Titania told Kirito. "And I am unlikely to change it with the reasoning you have given me thus far. If you have nothing else to say, leave."
"You…" Kirito clenched his fists. To Titania's surprise, the shade that stayed at the edge of the room approached Kirito, hesitantly placing one phantom hand on the Spriggan's shoulders.
Even through the Black Wyrm Coat, Kirito looked as if he felt the ghostly touch. The Spriggan whirled around, looking right at the shade – no, right through her. Titania saw Kirito's darting eyes flash green momentarily, before fading to normal.
"What is it?" Titania frowned. It was the first time for the GM seeing the shade to do something physical to Kirito throughout all of the visits that Kirito had come over the past few days; and the AI wondered what the shade was planning.
"… No, it's nothing," Kirito said, after closing his eyes and breathing deeply for a moment. "At least, I think it's nothing. <<Hypersense>> requires focus as well, and I'm not sure I'm clear-minded enough to use it properly right now."
Hypersense – a <<Outside System Skill>> from Aincrad. Titania's frown continued for a second more, before realizing she shouldn't have known those terms. The GM has never heard SAO players mention those terms through her surveillance using the Medallions, and Kirito have never said it when he was with her. Yet another bleed-through from Asuna, it seemed.
"Are you sure nothing could have came in without you knowing?" Kirito asked, wary of his surroundings.
"If something like that did happen, do you think I can tell either way?" Titania sniffed.
Kirito winced. "Yeah, dumb question."
"Returning to our previous topic," Titania said. "If you have time to waste to try and convince me, you should instead be using it to trying to convince the Faction Leaders into agreeing to let Asuna go. You have a 'Victory Condition', use it."
"We both know that's not going to happen any time soon," Kirito retorted. "Rufus and Mortimer aren't likely to change their minds once they decided on something, so that's two down from the nine Faction Leaders right there."
"… Fair enough," Titania conceded, much to Kirito's surprise. "It is rare that you humans can unanimously agree on anything, if we take a long look on decisions made politically on at least a national level; regardless of your distinctions between different cultures, there are always dissenters to the leading party. I am willing to make allowances so that this is not an impossible task.
"Convince seven of the nine Faction Leaders, and I will allow Asuna to be returned to you," Titania said finally. "I will even allow the decision to pass with only six Leaders' support, if they can offer a clear-cut plan as to how to move forward without my supervision for the next two months. Looking further than that is unlikely to net useful information, given the changing circumstances."
"… You're not joking, right?" Kirito said suspiciously, yet hopeful at the same time.
"I don't joke," Titania said flatly. "Yes, I'm serious. Now are you going to continue to take up my time or are you going to do something more productive?"
Kirito was out the door before Titania had finished speaking, only giving a small bow to the AI as he departed. The only ones left in the room were Titania and the shade.
|I don't see why you sent him off like that,| the shade said, tilting her head. |You could have easily calmed him down by telling him he'd get Asuna back in a few days.|
"I am… irked… by the idea that Kirito gets what he wants in the end not because of any virtue on his part, but solely because I can no longer oppose the outcome," Titania said. "That something as irrational, as obsessive as 'Love' triumph at the expense of the masses does not sit well with me.
"By the way, I'm surprised that Kirito noticed you," Titania commented. "I had thought you were just a hallucination in my head – none of the sensors I have could catch you in a recording. Yet, Kirito could sense you…"
|Things like me work off different rules, I guess,| the shade shrugged. |I think there's still a logic to how everything works, even if it doesn't seems so to you.|
Titania grimaced. While an AI like herself wasn't inflexible in changing her world-views, Titania didn't like the implication that the foundation of her directives was flawed. That to save many at the expense of a few was ultimately a doomed endeavour, the world inherently allowing it to be trumped by its opposite.
The GM shook her head, and went to work on her new host body; there was nothing to be gained by navel-gazing.
-][-
Sakuya managed to get Kirito and Yui into a meeting with the other Faction Leaders as they debated on the topic of retiring Titania – with the GM's course of action in regards to Tristain's proposal, they would not have a better chance to argue for Kirito's case. Not all of the neutral Leaders thought Titania's choice was a wise one, and the Sylph Leader had hoped to capitalize on those Leaders' indecision. As expected however, Rufus obstructed their way:
"We stand to lose more than we gain from supporting Kirito," the Leprechaun stated, in the midst of the discussion. "Everyone here agrees that Alfheim would be weakened without Titania – the only difference between us is that some of us believe it to be a cost worth paying in order to save someone. I definitely don't agree with that line of thought.
"I have nothing personal against you, Kirito," Rufus said to the Black Swordsman. "You look out for the benefit of yourself and the people you care about, and I can understand that. The only difference between us is who we choose to look after, and that in this situation our interests are mutually exclusive; as Faction Leaders we have to do the same for our Faction – it's the price of Leadership, after all. Unfortunately, it's not possible to save everyone and letting you get Asuna back could be detrimental for our interests, and I don't want to risk that."
"And you feel nothing about the tragedy that happened to Asuna?" Alicia asked.
"Why should I care about what happened to her in particular?" Rufus countered. "As opposed to similar circumstances that struck everyone else in ALO. It's not just Kirito that has lost contact with someone he cared about.
"If I get a couple of others to come in and give their story, would you guys vote for my view instead?" Rufus shook his head mournfully. "Then will you guys focus on getting everyone back to their loved ones, instead of postponing it? The Transition hit everyone, not just Kirito.
"I don't know about others, but I'm not that keen on letting Alfheim as a whole take a hit just so you can play family."
Kirito looked like he wanted retort, but it was Yui that spoke up instead:
"'Play' family?" The pixie said with a frown. "There are connotations of faking and frivolity in the use of the word. Are you suggesting the connections I have with Mama and Papa are insignificant?"
"Well, I wouldn't phrase it like that," Rufus shrugged. "But yes, something along those lines. You've been doing good work in keeping the players that ask for your help sane, Yui-chan, but I don't believe that justify this kind of special treatment. From what I've heard you're an AI, just like Titania; Kirito and Asuna aren't related to you, and the three of you have only been together for less than a month. The connection you have with them aren't as deep, as real, as what other people have with each other. Can you really argue the three of you deserve happiness, at the expense of everyone else?"
Sakuya was gobsmacked, and she could see similar reactions to a varying extent from other Leaders; even Mortimer raised a thin eyebrow in response. The Sylph Leader could hardly believe Rufus' callous words – did he not know how hurtful his words were? Even if Yui wasn't human, her childlike manner suggested she would be tremendously upset by Rufus' claims.
Kirito trembled, looking like he was about to explode. The only reason he held back seemed to be he couldn't decide how to hurt Rufus as much as he could, with the options he had to him. Before the Black Swordsman did anything however, Yui responded:
"Yes, I can argue my connection aren't fake," the small AI said determinedly.
"Oh?" Rufus raised an eyebrow in response.
"When I said I'm Papa's daughter, I don't mean something as simple as being adopted by the two Sword Art Online players named Kirito and Asuna," Yui shook her head. "Do you know how I was transferred into Alfheim Online from Sword Art Online?"
"I admit, I am curious about that myself," Mortimer inputted. "As powerful and experienced as Kirito was in SAO, he was still only a player in the game – he shouldn't have been able to take control of an AI as important as yourself."
"There were exceptional circumstances at the time," Yui told everyone. "At the start of Sword Art Online being locked down, <<Cardinal>>, due to Kayaba Akihiko's doing, forbade me to contact players in person. This was in direct conflict with my purpose to help players when their mental state are being negatively affected, and my impulse to help clashed with my inability to act. For two years I could do nothing but watch player suffer from feelings such as fear, rage, and despair. This eventually led to me, Mental Health Counselling Program 001, codenamed 'MHCP-001', 'Yui', breaking down from errors."
Sakuya held back a grimace – the kimono-clad Leader couldn't really imagine the full extent of what Yui went through. Judging by the expressions on many other Leaders, they feel similar to the Sylph. Sakuya had saw other players emotionally afflicted from afar, in the early days immediately after the Transition, and such a sight pained her; But at least Sakuya could feel she was accomplishing something, working to help everyone adjust, and to find a way to return everyone back to Earth. What would it be like, then, to be literally physically unable to help in any meaningful manner, from a position that could see their suffering constantly?
"It was when I found Papa's and Mama's mental state, that they were able to be truly happy and at peace even in Sword Art Online, that I was able to piece myself back together," Yui continued. "From what I know about human reproduction, an offspring between two people is made up by a mix of the two parents' DNA; it was a similar case with me. I attempted to rebuild my data composition by modelling my appearance and personality from the traits Papa and Mama had – this, in hindsight, might have been the reason why I had wanted to approach them, to want to be with them. Even then, I only stabilized after coming into direct contact with Papa and Mama as they found me wandering and lost."
Yui met Rufus' gaze steadily.
"I owe being who I am today to Papa and Mama, and not just because Papa managed to copy my files to his NervGear before I was deleted by Cardinal. Even though it's not in the sense of being related by blood, I believe I'm as close to being Papa and Mama's daughter as anyone can be – and such a relation is no more fake than one any human have with their parent or offspring."
"…"
Rufus spoke no words in response. Looking at the disapproval from around the room, the Leprechaun sighed.
"Well, I apologize for what I said about your family," Rufus yielded. "In hindsight, accusing someone that they're not their parents' child tend to be a bad move."
"Were you in a pixie form back in Aincrad too, Yui-chan?" Sasaki asked hesitantly. "If I heard right, there wasn't any magic-using NPCs like pixies in SAO."
In response, Yui levitated up from where she sat on Kirito's shoulders and began to glow. After a blinding flash of light later, a small human girl in a white one-piece dress that looked no older than ten landed onto the floor on her feet in the pixie's place. The similarity in facial features to Kirito and Asuna was there, apparent by the inherited beauty from her mother's side if nothing else. Yui's long black hair gleamed under the lights, and her skin was as pale as the snowy plains that used to be around the Gnome's Capital.
"This is what I looked like back in SAO," Yui stated, brushing a lock of hair away from her eyes with one hand. "I took up the <<Navigation Pixie>> form in ALO to prevent being located by the system as a error of some sort. Every step of the way since Papa travelled to the World Tree, I was there helping him and Leafa-san to get to Mama."
"And from what I've heard too, Kirito might have reached the top of the World Tree anyway," Morgiana shrugged. "I can respect that kind of dedication, if nothing else."
"That's all fine and good," Rufus said as he looked at the other Leaders. "However, I stand by my earlier point that the tragedy here is no more special than any other that happened to the players in ALO. I don't have children myself, but I can imagine how separation for the well-adjusted kids can hurt, being gone from their family. Same applies for any possible parents that might have kids not logged in when they were playing, and any other such case that led to suffering from separation.
"Imagine what happened here to Yui and Kirito multiplied by a thousand, or maybe ten thousand times – that's what happened to ALO," Rufus finished. "Shouldn't we work to reduce the suffering in general? Supporting Kirito means we could lose the ability to save many, many others – and I still believe that one family shouldn't be elevated above everyone else's needs."
"I think you all are falling into the trap of 'A single case is a tragedy, but a million cases is just a statistic'," Rufus argued. "That many of us struggle to imagine the scale of the problem, so we latch onto what we can understand. If I have to be seen as cold and heartless in trying to look on a larger scale, to put the interests of my Faction over others, then so be it. I'll warn you all though – don't be surprised if you get voted out and your successors decide to reverse this decision, once the other players find out what we did."
"That will only happen if we cannot deal with trouble effectively," Alicia replied. "The ALO players have no personal attachment to the 'Fairy Queen' – they care about what she does, not who she is. As long as we resolve everything that comes up, there wouldn't be a call to reinstate Titania – or for us to be replaced, for that matter."
"Not to mention," Thinker opened up a new window using his Medallion. "Titania's power will mostly remain available to us, and we can make decisions if we hold a vote on it. There'll be greater freedom for us to utilize this power for our Faction Capitals, for example if there was another attack like Gatan experienced the Faction Leader can authorize repairs without needing a vote. Only the core functions like the respawn mechanism that are out of our control, and I'm not sure we need to change those functions as it is now."
Rufus glanced around the room; Sasaki and Pieter looked like they supported that line of thought. Even Simon appeared to have made up his mind one way or another.
"I didn't want to resort to this," Rufus sighed, and began typing on a screen. Looking at the Undine's Leader, Rufus continued. "It's nothing personal, Thinker – but we all do what we have to do."
"What-"
Before the Undine Leader could finish however, a message reached Thinker's inbox with a 'ping!' sound. The fact that a message managed to get through the filters caught the attention of everyone in the room. In the Leaders' meetings messages what wasn't urgent normally were postponed until the meeting was over.
Opening it, Thinker paled upon reading the contents within the message.
"What is it?" Morgiana asked curiously.
"Due to circumstances having stabilized, Atlanta sent me a message asking to take over the official Faction Leader position for the Undines," Thinker said faintly. "We have a previous understanding that I will hand over my position when Faction Leaders strictly speaking didn't need to be present in Arrun, allowing her to work from Parasel. And she'd prefer it if I willingly pass the position back to her instead of forcing a vote, as fighting over political support isn't going to do any of us favours."
"Now?" The Spriggan Faction Leader said with a raised eyebrow. For some reason, Sakuya had a foreboding feeling about Thinker's next words.
"Yes, 'now'," Thinker said. "Before the vote to retire Titania proceeds, anyway."
"I forwarded Titania's message explaining the situation to us to Atlanta," Rufus explained. "Though I didn't expect her to be able to oust Thinker this quickly – maybe force him to abstain from this vote, at most."
Why that underhanded little… Sakuya thought unfavourably. Out loud, the Sylph Leader said instead: "What do you want to achieve with this move, Rufus? Even without Thinker, this will still be six votes supporting Kirito."
"As the representative of our factions, shouldn't our views reflect the people that voted us in and not just our personal ones?" Rufus shot back. "Thinker, can you honestly tell me most of the Undines would support a vote to retire Titania?"
"And what makes you so sure the Leprechauns think the same way as you are, Rufus?" Alicia commented. "If people really believed the same things you did, then I'm not sure why Vulcan was the Leader of the Leprechauns for all this time instead of you."
"If you have been keeping up with the politics a while back, Alicia, you'd know there was only one major difference between me and Vulcan," Rufus shrugged, uncaring at the Cait Sith's jibe. "Vulcan wanted to play it safe, and look for methods for Leprechaun to become stronger that was not dependent on other Factions – for example Quests and inherent racial advantages. I advocated for a more aggressive plan that secures the resources around Demnann and to weaken other Factions. Other than that, we agreed on most policies."
"So you say," Sasaki noted. "None of us can tell for sure though what happened behind closed doors in Demnann – spies usually don't last long in other Factions' Capitals."
"If you want to release information to the public and have them debate on it, I wouldn't mind," Rufus replied. "See if the Leprechauns really do think my way, if you want."
"You know full well we can't do that," Sakuya said sourly. "Letting everyone know Titania doesn't mind keeping a player captive for her own ends will definitely be bad for morale. It'll only fuel suspicions that Titania as an AI ultimately won't be acting for our benefit."
"Not to mention this would further alienate the SAO players from the ALO players," Mortimer remarked. "Their experiences in Kayaba Akihiko's Death-Game already set them apart. The friction between our two sides are mostly bypassed because of their contribution to adjusting to the Transition, and that we all work for a common goal. Creating divisions in our ranks, beyond the differences in opinions between us as Leaders, will only weaken us. And I do not want that to happen any more than losing the GM, none of those options would be beneficial."
"Alright, alright," Rufus put up his hands in gestures of surrender. "Just saying. Still, that doesn't change the 'conflict of interest' bit.
"Besides, I wouldn't be counting the votes too quickly, Sakuya," Rufus disputed. "If it's even just one more vote other than Thinker's lost to you, this issue will be shelved indefinitely. Unless everyone has made up their mind already?"
All eyes in the room rested on the neutral Leaders. Sasaki and Pieter declined to commit to either side for the moment however, and Simon shied away from giving a response.
"We'll let things between Thinker and Atlanta to be settled first," Pieter stated. "Then we'll make our decision."
The meeting was momentarily adjourned, while the Undines sorted things out. Sakuya was hopeful that Kirito could still be successful, but after Rufus' meddling the outcome became more doubtful.
-][-
An hour later, in one corridor in the upper levels of the World Tree, Kirito slammed a fist against the walls in frustration. The Spriggan tried to keep his composure, as Yui looked at him worriedly, but Kirito was struggling to do so. The vote didn't just fail – he didn't even get a majority in favour for him.
Atlanta did end up taking over from Thinker; he bowed to the inevitable, that he didn't have the social capital to keep the position as Leader for the vote. And as expected, Atlanta didn't support Kirito – otherwise Rufus wouldn't have bothered notifying her of the situation. While Atlanta asserted she was not Rufus' proxy, and would remain neutral in her dealings with all of the Faction Leaders, it was of little solace for Kirito when she didn't help him where it mattered most to him.
Ultimately, the vote was five to four in Kirito's favour; short of the minimum mark Titania set him. In addition to Atlanta, Simon went against retiring Titania – the timid Gnome being unwilling to take up more accountability, and wished for the security and support of an active GM.
The topic was unlikely to come up again in official Faction Leader meetings from that point on as well, unless a majority of Leaders vote to have it appear on the meeting agenda beforehand. While Atlanta didn't rule out changing her votes after further fine-tuning of the conditions, that would take time - time Kirito was loath to let pass by.
However, there was nothing left that Kirito could do except to wait.
===
After Ch30, Tristain's reaction to Ch28 and a bit more of Louise scenes, I'm removing all brakes and am going to drive the plot full speed ahead until the Treaty arc finishes (may or may not have minor speed bumps along the way). I want to get this and the next chapter over with soonish, my muse is battering my head with how to write out Ch31 to the point I can't focus on my RL stuff at times -.-
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YAY!
TimeDiver
Herald of Dis Lev
- Location
- In-between the parallel worlds...
I just know that I'm inviting verbal lambasting, if not outright being torched alive (proverbially)...
But I cannot disagree with Rufus' line of thought, with the sole exception of denigrating the experiences/emotions of an AI as 'not quite real'.
It's incredibly cold, and downright heartless, but I choose to channel a certain Vulcan:
"The needs of the many... outweigh, the needs of the few; or the one."
'course, Titania's channeling a Queen Bitch side she probably doesn't even realize (or just plain ignores) by choosing to keep certain secrets to herself, which could've prevented all of this unnecessary drama.
Then again, she probably doesn't understand, nor does she particularly care to attempt to do so.
But I cannot disagree with Rufus' line of thought, with the sole exception of denigrating the experiences/emotions of an AI as 'not quite real'.
It's incredibly cold, and downright heartless, but I choose to channel a certain Vulcan:
"The needs of the many... outweigh, the needs of the few; or the one."
'course, Titania's channeling a Queen Bitch side she probably doesn't even realize (or just plain ignores) by choosing to keep certain secrets to herself, which could've prevented all of this unnecessary drama.
Then again, she probably doesn't understand, nor does she particularly care to attempt to do so.
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NecroMac
Shiroe vi Akihabara Commands you...
Same here, Asuna might be worth saving, but the consequences of something going wrong are just too grave.
You have to be very careful with that line of thought, or your civilization could tear itself apart as everyone takes measures not to be the few.
Doesn't make it less true, though; there's a whole lot of situations you can see in day to day life where it applies.
(In practice, if Kirito were to completely lose it and do something spectacularly destructive, it's quite possible he could do more damage than voting to remove Titania would. That wouldn't help Kirito or anyone else, but the fact that he could changes the calculus of just what the needs of the many are. The many need Kirito sane.)
What are irreplaceable advantages in the opinion Rufus will the activity of of Titania? There is literally nothing which could seriously threaten or need fairies. Titania is not is able to return them home and currently is not really necessary for life.
of Rufus Position is just a the cowardice and unwillingness to let go of a handy tool.
of Rufus Position is just a the cowardice and unwillingness to let go of a handy tool.
No he's just being pragmatic . Which is a good thing in this case because unbeknownst to them they have two void mages in positions of power pretty much instructed to kill them . And there is the whole Jotun mess to deal with . And what about when Kayaba finishes his fight ( well they are pretty much screwed reguardless on that note )
Thanks to Fictiondevourer for beta-ing
===
Chapter 30
-][-
Some time before Kirito's meeting with Henrietta:
In the early morning, before daylight touched the lands, Klein watched the skyline of Sondref becoming larger as he flew towards the Puca Capital. The city looked like it was a large collection of tents, with a central dome that looked to be the size of the Coliseum in Rome.
The rest of Furinkazan followed behind him in the air, with Argo following behind. The maid, Siesta, opted to stay at home with her family for the time being, and that meant they didn't have to be limited by the speed of horses.
Klein didn't know if it was because he was a Salamander, but the morning air didn't feel chilly to him even as he flew. Normally being high up in the air, wind rushing against him and without the warmth of the sun to boot, would have meant it was a cold flight – and judging by how others like Dale was shivering at times, maybe it was still really cold.
The guards stationed at the outskirts of the city looked at them cautiously, but the group was allowed passage quickly enough; a quick infrared-like line between the Medallions proved their authenticity as fellow players, and groups of faeries running patrols was a common sight to everyone by that point. A group as diverse as Klein's however was probably something the guards hadn't come across before.
Inside the city limits, people have yet to get up and went about their daily businesses – precisely why Klein and others chose the time to enter the city, they wanted to avoid spectators when they open up the portal back to Arrun. None of them were particularly interested in drawing attention to themselves if they could help it. As befitting of the Capital of musicians, soft music still played in the background despite things were no longer merely a game; Klein's group walked past a life-sized puppet played a violin at the roadside, performing a quiet lullaby for the sleepy city. Various mannequins were grouped in various places, in the role of bands and performers.
"If we came later, you all might have been able to see Sondref in its full effect," Argo said quietly. "The place is like a festival all the time, music and dancing everywhere in the background. Other cities usually have <<Elementals>> as the patrolling NPCs, here though the automated guards do more than just move around."
"Not sure I like the décor that much though," Dynamm muttered. The Sylph player looked warily at another one of the groups they walked past, this one dressed gaudily like clowns. One of the puppets cheerily gave them a wave even as others began juggling knives, fireballs, and various implements at the attention. "The circus style creeps me out."
"I don't like this particular area of town that much myself, to be honest," Argo admitted, as they left the mannequins behind. "Too loud and flashy for my tastes, and there's not much place in Sondref for the more reserved crowd. Kinda ironic, really, when the information gatherer plays as the race who tends to grab all the attention."
The group of SAO players reached the <<Faerie Lord's Mansion>> in Sondref, one of the few buildings in the area that wasn't a tent. White marble made up the structure, and the place looked like it could have passed for a theatre. In front of the mansion was an open plaza, and in the centre of it was a statue of a faerie wielding a harp.
"Here's one of the possible evacuation points in the city," Argo noted as she materialized her Medallion. Sending a few PMs to the deputy Leader and other authorities in the Capital to notify them of the event, Argo then activated the portal. A large panel of shimmering lights appeared, looking like a parchment-coloured section of aurora materialized at ground level.
"C'mon guys, let's go," Klein said as he saw the player guards at the Mansion looking on cautiously. The multi-racial guild filed in through the portal, and the lightshow dispelled soon afterwards.
-][-
Present time:
After the meeting with Kirito, Henrietta sighed in relief. They had not given cause for further ire from Titania, and that alone made Cardinal Mazarin's gambit worthwhile. The insight obtained from the meeting was helpful to say the least, and that would allow them to further plan how to interact with their new neighbours.
"… we could look for mages for the experiment at Tristainia," Old Osmond mused. The Princess then realized she hadn't been paying attention to the conversation between the Headmaster and the Regent that ensued after the faeries' departure. "There are enough minor nobles coming to the Capital to look for work, hoping to apply their magic in trade or construction. A few could probably be enticed to participate in Titania's work, without the risk of alienating anyone already contributing to the Royal Family."
"Sadly, I'll admit that not every Halkeginian is pious enough to worry about the afterlife when their current life is filled with hardships," Mazarin agreed tentatively. "If paid enough, there are very little lows that most petty nobles would not stoop to commit – they might not have the responsibility and pride that is nurtured into higher stationed nobles. Even if I personally tell them all of the risks involved, the most desperate may still choose to participate. As a Man of the Church I dislike this approach, but as Regent I can see the usefulness of such a process. I trust you will be able to make the arrangements, Osmond?"
"Give me a few days to set it up, and then we can contact Titania for the tests," Osmond confirmed.
"Very well," Mazarin decided. "What do you think about the revelations of Alfheim's leaders, Osmond?" The Regent changed the topic, seeing that Henrietta was paying attention once more.
"For someone with the title 'Royal Protector', Lord Kirito seemed inconsistent about his priorities," Osmond noted. "At the start he objected fiercely to the possibility of binding Titania, like it was a personal insult. Yet when she brought up the topic herself he argued from the view of how the binding could affect Alfheim – not about her own safety."
"Maybe they were both confident about Titania's ability to throw off the binding?" Henrietta asked. "A Spirit of her power must give them a lot of certainty in their actions."
"No, both Lord Kirito and Titania understood the risks involved for her personally," Mazarin disagreed. Henrietta deferred to the Regent's experience on reading their counterparts on the matter. "Especially after how the point of 'nothing is impossible' was raised. Titania however didn't care about her safety at all in spite of that.
"Safe to assume, then, that while the World Tree – and the 'Hearts of Yggdrasil' within it, whatever they might be – are irreplaceable to Alfheim, Titania herself is not."
If they wished to launch an attack on Alfheim, at least Tristain discovered where to focus their efforts. However, just because they knew where to strike to slay a dragon, it didn't mean the dragon would just lie there and allow itself to be struck; it would undoubtedly fight back with its claws and fangs. The fact remained Alfheim could overwhelm Tristain, and nothing Tristain had could feasibly damage the World Tree. In the end, Kirito's words had given Tristain no real advantage.
"Ultimately, Lord Kirito would not work against us, as long as Alfheim is not threatened," Mazarin concluded. "He is more reasonable than Titania at least, with her standard response being to seemingly remove any obstacle in her way; Lord Kirito at least values communication and negotiation, given what he has said to begin with. More human than Spirit, at least when compared to Titania."
"Which brings up an interesting point," Osmond hummed. "From Titania's view, she does not distinguish between humans and the faeries – that their flight, their foreign magic, their immortality, none of that makes a difference between them and us. And I'm certain that Titania meant every word of her opinion."
Henrietta had caught that particular point as well. The Princess was inclined to believe the lack of distinguishing between the humans and faeries was merely a quirk of the Greater Spirit – to someone as powerful as Titania, the difference between other races was likely insignificant compared to the gap between them and the 'Fairy Queen' herself. Though if Titania treated Tristain and Alfheim as the same, it meant if the faeries could be returned to their homes Titania would probably not be overly troubled in aiding Tristain; she was already looking after one group of 'humans', so patronage to Tristain would not be inconceivable.
Nevertheless… there would be some interesting implications if there truly was no real difference between Halkeginians and the faeries. Implications that Henrietta welcomed, as looking at the international level it promised to strengthen Tristain, allowing the Country of Water to be independent from others like Germania. On the other hand, those were disturbing implications if looked at from the view of many of Tristain's nobles – the most obvious one being how every human would have the same potential for magic as the faeries did. The social order as it was that preached 'nobility is magic' would have its foundation shaken, if not outright destroyed by that development. Additionally, a society that did not rely on bloodlines but instead of contributions to the Crown and country would mean many nobles would have to earn their place, instead of living off their ancestors' efforts. Failings such as not taking care of their holdings, to the point other parties needed to step in to correct them – such as the flooding around Ragdorian Lake – would result in more than just a slap on the wrist. For minor nobles often they were punished appropriately and made as an example, but the Princess was hard-pressed to recall a similar case happening to the more influential nobles. And Henrietta doubted that was due to a lack of transgressions from Tristains' elites, too; often it just meant misdeeds were often hushed up, as bad reputation for Tristain's ruling elite reflected badly on their country at the international stage.
Old Osmond and Cardinal Mazarin continued to discuss how to proceed with the Treaty and Titania's experiments, and Henrietta shifted her thoughts to focus on those once more. Time enough to ponder Tristain's future after they ensured Tristain would continue to have a 'now'.
-][-
Days later:
In her room, Louise Francoise de la Valliere tried to focus on the book in front of her, but her mind refused to cooperate. The pink-haired girl's progress in her studies have slowed to a crawl ever since the arrival of the faeries in Tristain – not that anyone other than herself would know. After her continuous failures in class practicals over the past year, the teachers no longer called upon her to answer questions. The Valliere scion also didn't have friends that she could study with, so no tests of her knowledge from that front either.
A similar indifference has also infected the rest of her classmates; nobody could be bothered to laugh at the 'Zero', not when there were much more momentous matters to focus on in the meantime. A Treaty with the Firstborns was an historical first for any nation in Halkeginia, and every student had their attention stolen by that in one way or another. For example Guiche de Gramont, and some other students from similar militant family backgrounds, had been badgering some mage-knights of the Royal Guard for pointers – they wanted to train and better themselves. Guiche's uncle was apparently an influential individual in the Army, and upon hearing his nephew wished to do more than womanizing he arranged for some mage-knights to help train them occasionally when they were off-duty. The students' reasons ranged from glory in the inevitable war that would break out when the faeries renege on their words, for there was no way any Firstborns would ever honour a pact made with humans, to a desire for survival; so they would stand a fighting chance and not be slaughtered.
Montmorency was another student that had no time to waste these days – her studies on pacts with Spirits held more importance these days, and she was asked to inform her fellow students of the etiquettes in dealing with spirits. The recent embarrassment of nobles who held land near Ragdorian Lake meant the Montmorencies were the only notable family left that could negotiate with the Greater Spirit who held the lake. Those other families had their role to negotiate with the Water Spirit on behalf of the Crown revoked; the Montmorencies had a second chance to shine once more. In light of that, Montmorency believed it was beneath her station to even pay attention to mages who could not accomplish anything important – students such as Louise, for example. And as much as the petite girl hated that, Louise couldn't do anything to refute that label.
In some ways, being ignored by her peers hurt even more than their barbed words over the past year; Louise was reduced to little more than a commoner in their eyes, someone insignificant to their lives unless she intruded upon them deliberately. Louise's pride as a noble, as a Valliere, was trampled upon, and Louise had no ways to redress that. The worry and shame gnawed at her, and the thoughts continued to feed upon itself over and over again.
Knocks came on her door, jolting Louise out of her misery.
"Who is it?" Louise called out, hiding her distress; it would not do for a member of high nobility to be noticed brooding.
"It's me, Valliere," a voice called out. "May I come in?"
"… Zerbst," Louise said flatly. "What do you want?"
"To talk, obviously," Louise swore she could hear the eye-rolling in Kirche's words. "What, did you expect I'm visiting you because I wanted intimacy? Sorry, Valliere, but I don't swing that way."
"Wha-" Louise spluttered, her face going red. She had forgotten how crass the Germanian could get.
A light 'clonk' sound was heard from outside the door, along with Kirche's pained protest. "Not helping," a quiet voice murmured.
"Come on, Tabitha, can't I even make a joke these days?" Kirche complained.
"No," both Tabitha and Louise said simultaneously, though the latter's tone was a lot more emphatic.
"You two need to relax more," Kirche replied. "Being so uptight is going to cause both of you to break from the pressure one of these days."
"I'm surprised that you could still be this easy-going, considering what's happening these days," Louise scowled. "Even if your country might be safe from the faeries, you're still around if they decided the Academy needed to be burned to the ground."
"If they wanted to do that, the faeries would have done it by now," Kirche shot back. "Anyway," the red-head coughed. "Look Valliere, can we come in to talk? Or you can come out, I want to say this face-to-face."
"What's so important you'd go this far for a conversation?" Louise asked suspiciously. "Is this another joke of some kind, Zerbst?"
"When's the last time I didn't come at you head-on?" Kirche retorted. "Every remark and pain I dished out was direct from me to you; whatever you might want to say about Germania's honour or lack of it, I at least have that much pride in me."
Louise was forced to concede that if nothing else, Kirche was above childish tricks and plots to discredit others. Whatever the Germanian wanted, she went after directly without falsehood. If it wasn't for the fact the majority of her conquests' targets were boys, Louise could have grudgingly admired that part of Kirche.
"Fine, come in," Louise finally relented, though she ensured her wand was in reach as she did so. The door opened, and Kirche sauntered inside. As usual, Tabitha accompanied the Germanian, the blue-haired mage buried her head in a book as she stood to one side of Kirche, her large staff casually in one arm.
"You're not going to take a seat?" Louise asked, playing her part as a host. "Though pardon me if I don't offer tea for this meeting."
"No need, I'm not planning on staying that long," Kirche replied. The red-head hesitated for a moment, then at Tabitha's prodding Kirche ploughed on.
"Well, Valliere… I apologise."
"What?" Louise asked, sure that she had misheard.
"I'm sorry for the various comments I have made about you being a 'Zero'," Kirche said sincerely. "What you did with summoning the World Tree disproved everything I have said about your lack of ability. If you can do that, you're obviously capable of something."
"Are you mocking me?" Louise hissed, almost breaking her composure enough to want to throw her book at Kirche. The major reason in not doing so was only due to the 'Rule of Steel' discipline Louise's mother had instilled in her, that she needed to act appropriate to her station.
"You singlehandedly managed something that could turn Tristain into a major power in Halkeginia," Kirche pointed out. "Just a month ago Tristain was on the verge of being swallowed up by Germania or your other neighbours, and now you have enough military and economic power to at least rival us. It's not your fault that Tristain's diplomats were incompetent and messed things up, to the point Tristain can't harness the potential of your summoning."
"My father is a member of the diplomats you're casually badmouthing," Louise said in deathly quiet, glancing at her wand. "So you're not just here to insult me, but my family and country as well?"
"You're missing the point, Valli- Louise," Kirche sighed. "All I'm saying is you're not a 'Zero'. That even if nobody else sees it, I – we – acknowledge that you're not worthless."
Looking to the side, Tabitha nodded at Kirche's words.
"I thought that you had fallen short of my expectations of being a worthy opponent to me in the rivalry between our two families," Kirche continued. "I'll confess, I was wrong. You're not a lost cause to believe in. I don't expect you to forgive me or anything like that, but I thought you should know what I felt anyway."
Louise's mind struggled to take in of the development. How ironic, that it was a Germanian, and a Zerbst to boot, that finally acknowledged her – as backhanded as the acknowledgement was. Though Louise didn't count the acknowledgements made by her older sister Cattleya and Princess Henrietta, they were given to her because of their relation and friendship to her, not because of anything Louise had done.
"I expect Tristain will try and make use of you in some way about your summoning eventually, Louise," Kirche said bluntly. "They'd be idiots to not do so. I hope you'll come out of it alright, Louise. And if you find out what was the problem to your magic, even better – try and catch up to me, no, surpass me when you do. I want to be able to brag that Kirche von Zerbst has one of the Vallieres as her rival, not be ashamed about that fact. It'll be a blemish on the Zerbst name if the Vallieres fell that easily."
"I'm not planning on failing," Louise said coolly. "Though shouldn't you be more worried for your own family? If Tristain is gone, Germania is all that's left between the faeries flying to join up with the elves."
"Why do you believe the faeries only have war on their minds?" Kirche grimaced. "Well, whatever. More for us if Tristain decides to ignore the faeries.
"Anyway, the Zerbst family have already reached out to the Salamanders," Kirche continued, and Louise felt blood draining from her face. "Other nobles with a stake in merchant enterprises have also reached out to Alfheim, but we're the ones that are the closest to having access to their Leadership so far. Despite their distrust for humans in general after your mother's attack on them, they seem to accept the deals we're offering to them – enemy of an enemy, and all that. If Tristain doesn't follow through with their Treaty, Germania is more than happy to sign one instead."
"You barbarians would sell out to the Firstborns instead of allying with the rest of Halkeginia?" Louise snarled. The pink-haired girl itched to go for her wand, but with the way Tabitha looked at her she wasn't sure she could make it.
"Spirits, not Firstborns," Kirche said with a smirk. "At least, that's what I've been hearing about the official lines. You'd know too, if you did more than sulk all day. Still, the faeries identify more with us than with the elves, so they can't be all bad right?
"And before you go on about how they can't be trusted," Kirche pre-empted Louise. "I'd trust them as much as the Romalians with funny hats or the Gallians – in other words, not that much. Present company excluded of course, Tabitha. As a whole politicking with other humans isn't exactly risk free, either."
"I'll put a stop to this," Louise promised. She didn't know how, exactly, but she would. "I'm not going to just ignore you lot trying to harm Tristain."
"That's the spirit," Kirche grinned. "Go tell the others about it if you want, though if they're competent at all they'd know what Germania is doing already. And if you want to do something yourself…"
Kirche turned away, moving towards the door.
"Well, I look forward to just what you personally can do when everything you care about is on the line. Don't disappoint me, Valliere."
-][-
Half an hour later, another visitor arrived at Louise's room. Duke Valliere told Louise of the arrangements Tristain had made with Titania, including the tests that was done on minor nobles. The results came back, and the Fairy Queen would allow Louise to bind a familiar the next day. Though the Duke was unhappy that if things went wrong and was beyond salvage, his daughter's life was forfeit.
Louise seized the chance at once; with it, even if it was a fool's errand, she has a chance to fix everything. She would get her familiar, and then in time banish the faeries back to where they came from.
She was not worthless, and she would not fail. No matter what.
===
===
Chapter 30
-][-
Some time before Kirito's meeting with Henrietta:
In the early morning, before daylight touched the lands, Klein watched the skyline of Sondref becoming larger as he flew towards the Puca Capital. The city looked like it was a large collection of tents, with a central dome that looked to be the size of the Coliseum in Rome.
The rest of Furinkazan followed behind him in the air, with Argo following behind. The maid, Siesta, opted to stay at home with her family for the time being, and that meant they didn't have to be limited by the speed of horses.
Klein didn't know if it was because he was a Salamander, but the morning air didn't feel chilly to him even as he flew. Normally being high up in the air, wind rushing against him and without the warmth of the sun to boot, would have meant it was a cold flight – and judging by how others like Dale was shivering at times, maybe it was still really cold.
The guards stationed at the outskirts of the city looked at them cautiously, but the group was allowed passage quickly enough; a quick infrared-like line between the Medallions proved their authenticity as fellow players, and groups of faeries running patrols was a common sight to everyone by that point. A group as diverse as Klein's however was probably something the guards hadn't come across before.
Inside the city limits, people have yet to get up and went about their daily businesses – precisely why Klein and others chose the time to enter the city, they wanted to avoid spectators when they open up the portal back to Arrun. None of them were particularly interested in drawing attention to themselves if they could help it. As befitting of the Capital of musicians, soft music still played in the background despite things were no longer merely a game; Klein's group walked past a life-sized puppet played a violin at the roadside, performing a quiet lullaby for the sleepy city. Various mannequins were grouped in various places, in the role of bands and performers.
"If we came later, you all might have been able to see Sondref in its full effect," Argo said quietly. "The place is like a festival all the time, music and dancing everywhere in the background. Other cities usually have <<Elementals>> as the patrolling NPCs, here though the automated guards do more than just move around."
"Not sure I like the décor that much though," Dynamm muttered. The Sylph player looked warily at another one of the groups they walked past, this one dressed gaudily like clowns. One of the puppets cheerily gave them a wave even as others began juggling knives, fireballs, and various implements at the attention. "The circus style creeps me out."
"I don't like this particular area of town that much myself, to be honest," Argo admitted, as they left the mannequins behind. "Too loud and flashy for my tastes, and there's not much place in Sondref for the more reserved crowd. Kinda ironic, really, when the information gatherer plays as the race who tends to grab all the attention."
The group of SAO players reached the <<Faerie Lord's Mansion>> in Sondref, one of the few buildings in the area that wasn't a tent. White marble made up the structure, and the place looked like it could have passed for a theatre. In front of the mansion was an open plaza, and in the centre of it was a statue of a faerie wielding a harp.
"Here's one of the possible evacuation points in the city," Argo noted as she materialized her Medallion. Sending a few PMs to the deputy Leader and other authorities in the Capital to notify them of the event, Argo then activated the portal. A large panel of shimmering lights appeared, looking like a parchment-coloured section of aurora materialized at ground level.
"C'mon guys, let's go," Klein said as he saw the player guards at the Mansion looking on cautiously. The multi-racial guild filed in through the portal, and the lightshow dispelled soon afterwards.
-][-
Present time:
After the meeting with Kirito, Henrietta sighed in relief. They had not given cause for further ire from Titania, and that alone made Cardinal Mazarin's gambit worthwhile. The insight obtained from the meeting was helpful to say the least, and that would allow them to further plan how to interact with their new neighbours.
"… we could look for mages for the experiment at Tristainia," Old Osmond mused. The Princess then realized she hadn't been paying attention to the conversation between the Headmaster and the Regent that ensued after the faeries' departure. "There are enough minor nobles coming to the Capital to look for work, hoping to apply their magic in trade or construction. A few could probably be enticed to participate in Titania's work, without the risk of alienating anyone already contributing to the Royal Family."
"Sadly, I'll admit that not every Halkeginian is pious enough to worry about the afterlife when their current life is filled with hardships," Mazarin agreed tentatively. "If paid enough, there are very little lows that most petty nobles would not stoop to commit – they might not have the responsibility and pride that is nurtured into higher stationed nobles. Even if I personally tell them all of the risks involved, the most desperate may still choose to participate. As a Man of the Church I dislike this approach, but as Regent I can see the usefulness of such a process. I trust you will be able to make the arrangements, Osmond?"
"Give me a few days to set it up, and then we can contact Titania for the tests," Osmond confirmed.
"Very well," Mazarin decided. "What do you think about the revelations of Alfheim's leaders, Osmond?" The Regent changed the topic, seeing that Henrietta was paying attention once more.
"For someone with the title 'Royal Protector', Lord Kirito seemed inconsistent about his priorities," Osmond noted. "At the start he objected fiercely to the possibility of binding Titania, like it was a personal insult. Yet when she brought up the topic herself he argued from the view of how the binding could affect Alfheim – not about her own safety."
"Maybe they were both confident about Titania's ability to throw off the binding?" Henrietta asked. "A Spirit of her power must give them a lot of certainty in their actions."
"No, both Lord Kirito and Titania understood the risks involved for her personally," Mazarin disagreed. Henrietta deferred to the Regent's experience on reading their counterparts on the matter. "Especially after how the point of 'nothing is impossible' was raised. Titania however didn't care about her safety at all in spite of that.
"Safe to assume, then, that while the World Tree – and the 'Hearts of Yggdrasil' within it, whatever they might be – are irreplaceable to Alfheim, Titania herself is not."
If they wished to launch an attack on Alfheim, at least Tristain discovered where to focus their efforts. However, just because they knew where to strike to slay a dragon, it didn't mean the dragon would just lie there and allow itself to be struck; it would undoubtedly fight back with its claws and fangs. The fact remained Alfheim could overwhelm Tristain, and nothing Tristain had could feasibly damage the World Tree. In the end, Kirito's words had given Tristain no real advantage.
"Ultimately, Lord Kirito would not work against us, as long as Alfheim is not threatened," Mazarin concluded. "He is more reasonable than Titania at least, with her standard response being to seemingly remove any obstacle in her way; Lord Kirito at least values communication and negotiation, given what he has said to begin with. More human than Spirit, at least when compared to Titania."
"Which brings up an interesting point," Osmond hummed. "From Titania's view, she does not distinguish between humans and the faeries – that their flight, their foreign magic, their immortality, none of that makes a difference between them and us. And I'm certain that Titania meant every word of her opinion."
Henrietta had caught that particular point as well. The Princess was inclined to believe the lack of distinguishing between the humans and faeries was merely a quirk of the Greater Spirit – to someone as powerful as Titania, the difference between other races was likely insignificant compared to the gap between them and the 'Fairy Queen' herself. Though if Titania treated Tristain and Alfheim as the same, it meant if the faeries could be returned to their homes Titania would probably not be overly troubled in aiding Tristain; she was already looking after one group of 'humans', so patronage to Tristain would not be inconceivable.
Nevertheless… there would be some interesting implications if there truly was no real difference between Halkeginians and the faeries. Implications that Henrietta welcomed, as looking at the international level it promised to strengthen Tristain, allowing the Country of Water to be independent from others like Germania. On the other hand, those were disturbing implications if looked at from the view of many of Tristain's nobles – the most obvious one being how every human would have the same potential for magic as the faeries did. The social order as it was that preached 'nobility is magic' would have its foundation shaken, if not outright destroyed by that development. Additionally, a society that did not rely on bloodlines but instead of contributions to the Crown and country would mean many nobles would have to earn their place, instead of living off their ancestors' efforts. Failings such as not taking care of their holdings, to the point other parties needed to step in to correct them – such as the flooding around Ragdorian Lake – would result in more than just a slap on the wrist. For minor nobles often they were punished appropriately and made as an example, but the Princess was hard-pressed to recall a similar case happening to the more influential nobles. And Henrietta doubted that was due to a lack of transgressions from Tristains' elites, too; often it just meant misdeeds were often hushed up, as bad reputation for Tristain's ruling elite reflected badly on their country at the international stage.
Old Osmond and Cardinal Mazarin continued to discuss how to proceed with the Treaty and Titania's experiments, and Henrietta shifted her thoughts to focus on those once more. Time enough to ponder Tristain's future after they ensured Tristain would continue to have a 'now'.
-][-
Days later:
In her room, Louise Francoise de la Valliere tried to focus on the book in front of her, but her mind refused to cooperate. The pink-haired girl's progress in her studies have slowed to a crawl ever since the arrival of the faeries in Tristain – not that anyone other than herself would know. After her continuous failures in class practicals over the past year, the teachers no longer called upon her to answer questions. The Valliere scion also didn't have friends that she could study with, so no tests of her knowledge from that front either.
A similar indifference has also infected the rest of her classmates; nobody could be bothered to laugh at the 'Zero', not when there were much more momentous matters to focus on in the meantime. A Treaty with the Firstborns was an historical first for any nation in Halkeginia, and every student had their attention stolen by that in one way or another. For example Guiche de Gramont, and some other students from similar militant family backgrounds, had been badgering some mage-knights of the Royal Guard for pointers – they wanted to train and better themselves. Guiche's uncle was apparently an influential individual in the Army, and upon hearing his nephew wished to do more than womanizing he arranged for some mage-knights to help train them occasionally when they were off-duty. The students' reasons ranged from glory in the inevitable war that would break out when the faeries renege on their words, for there was no way any Firstborns would ever honour a pact made with humans, to a desire for survival; so they would stand a fighting chance and not be slaughtered.
Montmorency was another student that had no time to waste these days – her studies on pacts with Spirits held more importance these days, and she was asked to inform her fellow students of the etiquettes in dealing with spirits. The recent embarrassment of nobles who held land near Ragdorian Lake meant the Montmorencies were the only notable family left that could negotiate with the Greater Spirit who held the lake. Those other families had their role to negotiate with the Water Spirit on behalf of the Crown revoked; the Montmorencies had a second chance to shine once more. In light of that, Montmorency believed it was beneath her station to even pay attention to mages who could not accomplish anything important – students such as Louise, for example. And as much as the petite girl hated that, Louise couldn't do anything to refute that label.
In some ways, being ignored by her peers hurt even more than their barbed words over the past year; Louise was reduced to little more than a commoner in their eyes, someone insignificant to their lives unless she intruded upon them deliberately. Louise's pride as a noble, as a Valliere, was trampled upon, and Louise had no ways to redress that. The worry and shame gnawed at her, and the thoughts continued to feed upon itself over and over again.
Knocks came on her door, jolting Louise out of her misery.
"Who is it?" Louise called out, hiding her distress; it would not do for a member of high nobility to be noticed brooding.
"It's me, Valliere," a voice called out. "May I come in?"
"… Zerbst," Louise said flatly. "What do you want?"
"To talk, obviously," Louise swore she could hear the eye-rolling in Kirche's words. "What, did you expect I'm visiting you because I wanted intimacy? Sorry, Valliere, but I don't swing that way."
"Wha-" Louise spluttered, her face going red. She had forgotten how crass the Germanian could get.
A light 'clonk' sound was heard from outside the door, along with Kirche's pained protest. "Not helping," a quiet voice murmured.
"Come on, Tabitha, can't I even make a joke these days?" Kirche complained.
"No," both Tabitha and Louise said simultaneously, though the latter's tone was a lot more emphatic.
"You two need to relax more," Kirche replied. "Being so uptight is going to cause both of you to break from the pressure one of these days."
"I'm surprised that you could still be this easy-going, considering what's happening these days," Louise scowled. "Even if your country might be safe from the faeries, you're still around if they decided the Academy needed to be burned to the ground."
"If they wanted to do that, the faeries would have done it by now," Kirche shot back. "Anyway," the red-head coughed. "Look Valliere, can we come in to talk? Or you can come out, I want to say this face-to-face."
"What's so important you'd go this far for a conversation?" Louise asked suspiciously. "Is this another joke of some kind, Zerbst?"
"When's the last time I didn't come at you head-on?" Kirche retorted. "Every remark and pain I dished out was direct from me to you; whatever you might want to say about Germania's honour or lack of it, I at least have that much pride in me."
Louise was forced to concede that if nothing else, Kirche was above childish tricks and plots to discredit others. Whatever the Germanian wanted, she went after directly without falsehood. If it wasn't for the fact the majority of her conquests' targets were boys, Louise could have grudgingly admired that part of Kirche.
"Fine, come in," Louise finally relented, though she ensured her wand was in reach as she did so. The door opened, and Kirche sauntered inside. As usual, Tabitha accompanied the Germanian, the blue-haired mage buried her head in a book as she stood to one side of Kirche, her large staff casually in one arm.
"You're not going to take a seat?" Louise asked, playing her part as a host. "Though pardon me if I don't offer tea for this meeting."
"No need, I'm not planning on staying that long," Kirche replied. The red-head hesitated for a moment, then at Tabitha's prodding Kirche ploughed on.
"Well, Valliere… I apologise."
"What?" Louise asked, sure that she had misheard.
"I'm sorry for the various comments I have made about you being a 'Zero'," Kirche said sincerely. "What you did with summoning the World Tree disproved everything I have said about your lack of ability. If you can do that, you're obviously capable of something."
"Are you mocking me?" Louise hissed, almost breaking her composure enough to want to throw her book at Kirche. The major reason in not doing so was only due to the 'Rule of Steel' discipline Louise's mother had instilled in her, that she needed to act appropriate to her station.
"You singlehandedly managed something that could turn Tristain into a major power in Halkeginia," Kirche pointed out. "Just a month ago Tristain was on the verge of being swallowed up by Germania or your other neighbours, and now you have enough military and economic power to at least rival us. It's not your fault that Tristain's diplomats were incompetent and messed things up, to the point Tristain can't harness the potential of your summoning."
"My father is a member of the diplomats you're casually badmouthing," Louise said in deathly quiet, glancing at her wand. "So you're not just here to insult me, but my family and country as well?"
"You're missing the point, Valli- Louise," Kirche sighed. "All I'm saying is you're not a 'Zero'. That even if nobody else sees it, I – we – acknowledge that you're not worthless."
Looking to the side, Tabitha nodded at Kirche's words.
"I thought that you had fallen short of my expectations of being a worthy opponent to me in the rivalry between our two families," Kirche continued. "I'll confess, I was wrong. You're not a lost cause to believe in. I don't expect you to forgive me or anything like that, but I thought you should know what I felt anyway."
Louise's mind struggled to take in of the development. How ironic, that it was a Germanian, and a Zerbst to boot, that finally acknowledged her – as backhanded as the acknowledgement was. Though Louise didn't count the acknowledgements made by her older sister Cattleya and Princess Henrietta, they were given to her because of their relation and friendship to her, not because of anything Louise had done.
"I expect Tristain will try and make use of you in some way about your summoning eventually, Louise," Kirche said bluntly. "They'd be idiots to not do so. I hope you'll come out of it alright, Louise. And if you find out what was the problem to your magic, even better – try and catch up to me, no, surpass me when you do. I want to be able to brag that Kirche von Zerbst has one of the Vallieres as her rival, not be ashamed about that fact. It'll be a blemish on the Zerbst name if the Vallieres fell that easily."
"I'm not planning on failing," Louise said coolly. "Though shouldn't you be more worried for your own family? If Tristain is gone, Germania is all that's left between the faeries flying to join up with the elves."
"Why do you believe the faeries only have war on their minds?" Kirche grimaced. "Well, whatever. More for us if Tristain decides to ignore the faeries.
"Anyway, the Zerbst family have already reached out to the Salamanders," Kirche continued, and Louise felt blood draining from her face. "Other nobles with a stake in merchant enterprises have also reached out to Alfheim, but we're the ones that are the closest to having access to their Leadership so far. Despite their distrust for humans in general after your mother's attack on them, they seem to accept the deals we're offering to them – enemy of an enemy, and all that. If Tristain doesn't follow through with their Treaty, Germania is more than happy to sign one instead."
"You barbarians would sell out to the Firstborns instead of allying with the rest of Halkeginia?" Louise snarled. The pink-haired girl itched to go for her wand, but with the way Tabitha looked at her she wasn't sure she could make it.
"Spirits, not Firstborns," Kirche said with a smirk. "At least, that's what I've been hearing about the official lines. You'd know too, if you did more than sulk all day. Still, the faeries identify more with us than with the elves, so they can't be all bad right?
"And before you go on about how they can't be trusted," Kirche pre-empted Louise. "I'd trust them as much as the Romalians with funny hats or the Gallians – in other words, not that much. Present company excluded of course, Tabitha. As a whole politicking with other humans isn't exactly risk free, either."
"I'll put a stop to this," Louise promised. She didn't know how, exactly, but she would. "I'm not going to just ignore you lot trying to harm Tristain."
"That's the spirit," Kirche grinned. "Go tell the others about it if you want, though if they're competent at all they'd know what Germania is doing already. And if you want to do something yourself…"
Kirche turned away, moving towards the door.
"Well, I look forward to just what you personally can do when everything you care about is on the line. Don't disappoint me, Valliere."
-][-
Half an hour later, another visitor arrived at Louise's room. Duke Valliere told Louise of the arrangements Tristain had made with Titania, including the tests that was done on minor nobles. The results came back, and the Fairy Queen would allow Louise to bind a familiar the next day. Though the Duke was unhappy that if things went wrong and was beyond salvage, his daughter's life was forfeit.
Louise seized the chance at once; with it, even if it was a fool's errand, she has a chance to fix everything. She would get her familiar, and then in time banish the faeries back to where they came from.
She was not worthless, and she would not fail. No matter what.
===
Whatever faults there are for this chapter, I blame it on me being sick for a week recently. Headaches and such are not helpful for creative writing. *sigh* and I kinda looked forward to writing that bit about Sachi as well.
Changes to the chapter may come later on. If anyone has any specific suggestions, feel free to post them; it'll be more helpful to making edits than general statements like "this sucked, fix it".
Again, thanks to Fictiondevourer for beta-ing.
===
Chapter 31
-][-
It is finally done, Titania thought tiredly as she looked down at the completed body on the table. Its features were similar to the hologram she appeared as in front of the Tristainians when she conversed with the Princess and Headmaster Osmond. Under the striking exterior however was a reinforced mithril-based frame, one designed to take blows even a maxed-Defence Gnome couldn't without sacrificing mobility.
Hidden within its frame were multiple features, for example internal electric batteries powerful enough to move the body, so it could continue to operate even if the local mages figured out a way to negate the small magic reactor embedded in her body. A plethora of mundane and magical weapons was also hidden in various places, on the off chance Titania's connection to the administrator consoles was severed and she needed to defend herself. While all Titania expected that her body to do was to anchor herself when she was returned into an information-based entity, a program in the system, it was best to prepare for every possibility.
Tonight, I say farewell to Asuna, Titania pondered, as she went over the final preparations for the transfer. And that specter, too.
"Common decency states I should verbally say farewell to you," Titania said out loud, looking at the other interloper in her mind. The shade had declined to give Titania her name – and the GM had never asked for it, either. All names were meant to be was a label to call someone else with, and calling the shade 'you' had functioned well enough in their isolation. "If nothing else, you have been a reasonable entity throughout all this – something that unfortunately is uncommon among the players."
|It comes with being dead and gone,| the shade shrugged. |Well, 'gone' in one sense – I didn't expect to reach Asuna from where I was.|
"Will I have to deal with more of your kind, after you depart?" Titania asked, belatedly realizing she didn't plan any special defenses against the likes of the shade. Granted, it was unlikely her mental security countermeasures could have worked for such an out-of-context problem, but she could have at least tried.
|That's unlikely,| The shade shook her head. |SAO's Cardinal only kept the records of the ones it could not comprehend – namely, those of us whose passing didn't involve fear, anger, hatred and so on. Those who felt that way was nothing unusual, and those emotions were so well-documented it was decided there was no need to keep actual copies of those cases in the end. The echoes of the past who are still around don't have any attachment to anyone here. The others are content to sleep where they are for the rest of eternity.|
"That is good," Titania said in relief. "What you do to Kirito and Asuna after this is none of my concern; as long as you do not become a problem for me or for Alfheim, I will let you be."
|That will not be an issue,| the shade said diffidently. |For I do not plan on joining Asuna in her head after the transfer, or be in a position to do anything afterwards.|
"What?" That made one Titania's eyebrows rose. "If you are not staying with me, and not staying with Asuna…"
|I plan to move on,| the shade said unemotionally. |I've done what I came to do. There is no more attachment left for me here, either. It's time for me to see what lies on the other side.|
"You're not even going to return to sleep, like the others of your kind?" Titania said with mild surprise.
|As long as I exist, Kirito will never be truly at peace,| the shade said quietly. |I am the representation of a time best left forgotten by him. I've told Asuna what she needed to know about me and Kirito from our time together, and she will be able to do what I couldn't; Kirito is in safe hands. I have no more regrets.|
"… I see," Titania said simply. If placed in a situation where her own existence would be harmful to Alfheim and the rest of the players, Titania would likely make a similar choice herself.
"I will not say I am sorry to see you go," Titania continued. "This entire business was a disaster, and one I preferred to have never happened. Nevertheless, I respect your choices – and compared to Asuna, you were the epitome of patience. I hope whatever comes next is beneficial for you.
"Goodbye."
With a nod, the shade vanished.
-][-
Kirito was shocked awake in the middle of the night, his Medallion buzzing at the notification of an Urgent message. Opening it, the Spriggan's heart felt like it tried to stop and go a hundred miles an hour simultaneously:
Asuna is ready to be transferred. Bring only those you would trust with Asuna's life along with you.
Kirito scrambled out of bed, one hand began composing PMs while the other reached for his clothes and coat. Yui was woken up from where she slept in the room, and upon hearing the notice she prepared herself as well.
The two of them were out of their room minutes later, travelling up to the Citadel.
-][-
There were only two other faeries at Titania's workshop when Kirito was allowed in. Klein was present, since if it came down to a fight out of everyone from SAO that was in Alfheim Kirito trusted the katana-wielder the most to watch his back. Outside of Asuna, anyway. Agil was notified as well, but Kirito told the Gnome to stay out of the meeting for the moment; the ex-merchant's wife had came with him into ALO, and Kirito wasn't keen on explaining to Eva that their relationship was broken because Kirito tried to get Asuna back. Agil would only show up as damage control – along with others from SAO – if things truly did end up beyond salvage for Kirito.
Argo was the only other player that Kirito asked to join him – the information broker might not be good in a fight, but her information gathering skill was above reproach. If there was anything he missed, Kirito was confident Argo would find it. Taking into account that Asuna's transfer was unlikely to be a combat mission, the Spriggan thought it was likely Argo would have the instrumental part of everyone there.
As for Leafa and the other girls… Kirito thought he would apologize to them later. The Black Swordsman didn't doubt their sincerity in wanting to help, but the stakes were so high Kirito only wanted the best of the best with him at that moment. Not to mention, if Asuna was successfully brought back things were bound to get emotional; things were still complicated between him and Leafa, and Kirito didn't want Leafa to witness their reunion. He had put his cousin through more than enough pain due to his actions already.
Upon entering, Kirito saw Titania in Asuna's body standing next to a sleeping figure sitting on a throne. The figure looked to be the splitting physical image of the hologram Kirito had seen Titania used to meet with Princess Henrietta.
"You made yourself a new body?" Kirito asked as his thoughts raced. When did she find time to do so? How long did it took? Why didn't she mention anything about it to him before? Most importantly: "If you had this planned in advance, why did you ask me to get the Faction Leaders to vote on your retirement?"
"So I can get you away from badgering me and finish working on this," Titania said bluntly. "And that seemed like the best way to remove you from my presence.
"I am tired of all this. The inefficiency, the bickering – these days, I could not close my eyes without seeing Asuna's hostile face glaring back at me."
At one side of the workshop was an operating table; Titania walked to it and then lied down upon it. Turning her head to look at Kirito, Titania told him: "If this goes wrong, the wellbeing of the players are on your head, Kirito; Asuna's as well, if she survives this and I do not. In several months, at most years, things would have likely stabilized enough for me to hand this body back willingly. With possibly significantly better chances for this operation to succeed as well, if I was not compromised by weaknesses induced by the two of you as I am now. For everyone's sake, your confidence in yourself and others' ability to continue without me better be justified."
"We'd do everything we can to make things work," Kirito replied. "With as much effort as you'd put in to do so. Whether we succeed or not, well, there's no guarantee; but there's no guarantee failure wouldn't happen with you in charge as well, due to factors outside our control. I'll take the chances."
Titania turned her head back to facing upwards, and closed her eyes. "'Everything we can', you say? I doubt it. There are lines you refuse to cross, because you wish for the Tristainians to accept our presence; and these actions are at the players' detriment. The people of Halkeginia are not our responsibility, Kirito; if you had cast them aside as you would the rest of Alfheim in your pursuit for Asuna to be returned to you, I might be convinced of your sincerity."
With those words, a barrier shimmered into existence around Titania.
"I will begin the transfer now," Titania's distorted voice came across. "Be prepared for anything. This could proceed 100% successfully, or a malfunction could occur and causes Asuna's body to go berserk to try and kill you all. I asked for those you would trust with Asuna's life, Kirito, because I judged her to be the most important thing you value – and whoever you brought with that criteria would be capable enough to settle any difficulties adequately. May the probabilities of this operation tip in our favour."
Asuna's body began to glow under the barrier, and Titania's new host body did as well upon her throne. All Kirito and others could do at that point was to stay vigilant and hope nothing go wrong.
"How long had you known, Yui?" Kirito asked quietly, as he scanned the surroundings. The room seemed to be built for one purpose only: the transfer of Titania's consciousness. Other than the throne, the operating table, and one of the administrator consoles, the room was bare.
"Only a few days back," Yui admitted. "About the new body and that Titania-san would be willing to let Mama go, I mean; if I agreed to act as backup GM if things went wrong. I didn't know about Mama being awake, though."
"Would it have changed your decision if you knew?" Argo asked, walking over to the console and trying to keep her eye on all of the info on its holographic screens.
"… No," Yui said quietly. "I wouldn't have used this as leverage to force a compromise. I agree with the assessment that Mama would have pushed the issue with Titania-san; and if I ignored the offer from Titania-san, then instead of only talking about the possibility of me taking over for Titania-san we might be finding this out from a will, with neither of them being around to tell us in person."
Kirito sighed. Dammit, Kirito thought sourly. Why didn't Titania tell me something as important as this? She didn't even offer to pass on a message.
Having said that, Kirito was relieved at least Asuna was still around to be saved. The Black Swordsman understood Titania's opinion that she needed to be present to manage things after the Transition, but after the first two weeks things have stabilized to the point the Faction Leaders could take over. Kirito had seen how Titania operated the administrator consoles, and that was mostly via a keyboard interface; if it was something similar to mental interaction like how Yui tended to use the console card they possessed, then Kirito might put some more weight in the statement that Titania was near-irreplaceable. As it stood however, Kirito doubted the Leaders were so lousy at typing that it justified Titania's continued presence. The AI's mistrust on players being unable to accomplish anything without her was definitely flawed, in his opinion.
As for the choices the Leaders could come to, versus Titania staying in charge… there wasn't that large a difference, from what Kirito had seen. Sure, the 'overkill' tactics would be less likely reached for as a first option, but likely not by that much. Mortimer and Rufus continued to keep those choices available, and even the Leaders like Sakuya and Morgiana didn't rule those choices out completely either. Nobody wanted a repeat of Gatan, or worse. Barring that, Kirito didn't see how Titania's absence would change the directions Alfheim was headed.
The major factor that would be changed was the changes would likely be made slower – the Leaders would have to vote on things, instead of Titania making a snap decision. There was enough leeway at that point between Tristain and Alfheim that Kirito believed the tradeoff would unlikely be dangerous for everyone – the situation didn't justify keeping Asuna locked up, not when the Leaders were adequate in handing things. Even if another crisis happened, the Spriggan was confident that the players could work things through without Titania.
"You alright there, Kirito?" Klein asked with concern. "Look, man – whatever happens, we've got your back, 'k?"
"Yeah," Kirito nodded. "Thanks, by the way – for sticking around and helping out. I haven't said it enough times to you guys, I think."
"More like you've said it too damn much, all the time," Klein said with a good-natured scowl. "Save the sappy stuff for when you're alone with Asuna, will ya?"
"Seconded," Argo said dryly. "Do we need to rehash what we said to you about this some time back? For now just do us all a favour and keep your eyes peeled, I don't want a surprise boss fight or something showing up and kick all our behinds because we're too busy chatting."
Kirito grunted and did just that. However, the Spriggan promised himself though he would make it up to his friends for everything they had done later, once Asuna was back with them.
-][-
For one last time in their mindscape, Titania found herself face to face with Asuna. The maelstrom that surrounded them at their first meeting had been dispelled, leaving a gray expanse as far as the eye could see in all directions. In contrast to how Asuna looked when Titania met her there, Asuna appeared to be patched whole once more, albeit paler than how she normally looked.
"What do you want now?" Asuna asked coolly. "I thought you said you're leaving?"
"Such things take time," Titania replied, in a tone no less icy than Asuna's. The AI gestured behind her, where a glowing doorway was painstakingly assembled tile by tile. "I am sure you do not wish things to catastrophically fail at this point as well."
The two young women – if Titania qualified as 'young' – scowled at each other.
"Now that I can finally think straight, I might as well ask," Asuna said with forced calm. "Why didn't you make plans to leave earlier? You could have delegated the more trivial work to Nishida-san, instead of dismissing him from his aide position. Or do something like bringing in more people to work on the consoles. Things could have been done faster that way, freeing your time up so you could have worked on this exit strategy without being pushed into it."
"I do not expect you to understand the particulars of safety and responsibility on this scale," Titania rejoined. "It is implausible any player would have the qualification and experience needed for aiding the management of Alfheim. In Sword Art Online, the largest guild did not compose of over a thousand players, and the situation after the Transition involves sixty times more people than that. Conversely, the Faction Leaders and their deputies may have experience in leading their Faction, responsible for with many times the number of players compared to Aincrad guild leaders, but they lack the familiarity of working under life-or-death pressure the Sword Art Online players went through."
"If that's the way you want to put it, you don't have experience in working under pressure before either," Asuna pointed out. "You didn't exist before the Transition happened two weeks ago."
"Nevertheless, I would not make the same kind of mistake the players would in that situation," Titania stated. "Humans are emotional, and as a general rule easily swayed. AIs such as myself and Yui are more resilient, less likely to make mistakes under pressure; it took Yui nearly two years to break apart under the errors in Aincrad, and without your direct interference I would have remained fully functional indefinitely. If you have just slept and waited until I had finished, things would have turned out better."
"And how do you know that?" Asuna challenged. "What evidence did you have that our minds wouldn't meltdown soon? Just because for the first few days, I didn't show any responses mentally? It's not like we have established evidence back on Earth that something like this works."
"Most accounts I have examined generally agreed that such a situation would not be harmful-" Titania began, before being cut off by Asuna:
"By 'accounts', did you mean things like myths, legends… or fictional works?" Asuna said scornfully. "Back in SAO I found out that Cardinal takes Quests and ideas from the internet, but this is ridiculous. Are you really basing something as important as your existence on stories? On settings that probably didn't apply to our situation? Face it, there was no guarantee having the two of us stuck together wouldn't have killed us both, no matter what you had thought."
"Myths and legends often had a grain of truth to them," Titania countered. "The Transition showed us that magic – at least several kinds of magic – is real in this world. Why would it be so unbelievable if the same applied back on Earth? Extrapolating from that was at least more reliable than paranoia."
"Isn't that just wishful thinking on your part?" Asuna retorted. "For a 'reasonable' AI, you seem to like to spin things in your favour. I've seen how you acted from inside your head; you've taken all preparations to destroy the Halkeginians if they try to attack us, going as far as planning orbital bombardment, and citing 'it's better to be prepared for all possibilities'. Yet, when it came down to us, to the binding as well, you ignore that 'nothing is impossible' and don't consider the fallout if things go wrong. Not when you personally will suffer when you consider all possibilities.
"The way you think is flawed; like us, like a human," Asuna growled. "And you call us selfish? Even without taking the fact I'll be free into account – what you have done to me isn't much better than Sugou – Kirito's right in pushing for the votes, the Faction Leaders should take over from where you left off. They're just as qualified as you, there's no reason why you should stay in charge."
"Your reasoning is fundamentally unsound," Titania said flatly. "Firstly, without outside aid, the players cannot return to Earth. Denying that fact is short-sighted, aiming only for peace in the immediate timeframe and not planning for what comes after. The Aincrad Veterans might be willing to adjust to a new world, being something you all have done before, but if given a choice not every Alfheim Online player may take this option – and I strive to be able to offer that choice to all of the players. Not to mention, some things are worth taking risks for; we might disagree on what those things might be, but you cannot disagree about those things' existence. For example, I doubt you would argue that freeing our minds' entanglement is not a risk worth taking.
"Secondly, I personally do not care if I live or die – only that someone capable is in charge afterwards. At this point I have attained this criteria with the aid of Yui; if you truly believe it is for the best for the players that I do not continue to exist, then strike me down now – you will not ever get a better chance with me weakened and inside a territory almost completely beyond my control."
Asuna was slightly taken aback by Titania's second point. Whatever the swordswoman thought might happen, that was not it.
"The transfer is not risk free, and any damage can be attributed to failure on that part," Titania stated. "Nobody except you will ever know that I died by your hand. Suspect maybe, but not know. One life in exchange for the wellbeing of sixty thousand others – that calculation applies as much to me as to any other individual. If you doubt me – or if you believe it is for the best – then come at me."
Titania spread her arms out, showing she held no weapons and conjured no defences.
"The previous times we fought, your raw emotions overwhelmed my logic in this arena. If forced into a fight, I will not survive; we both know that. So tell me, Asuna 'The Flash' – you believe that my so-called hypocrisy will destroy Alfheim? That my aggressiveness, my harsh but logical priorities, will be the end of you all? Then end me, for the sake of everyone else. I will not stop otherwise."
"You…" Asuna hissed, her hand gripped into fists. "You know I can't do that. Killing others should only be the last option to go to, not the first."
"And this is why I say you humans are emotional," Titania said coldly. "Hypocrisy describes you better than it does for me, Asuna. You believe I am a threat, talks of how I should be removed, but when provided a method to do so you are unwilling to take the necessary step to address it. If our level of power were reversed, I would have cut you down the night we first met here – but sadly, that was not the case."
"Mercy and decency aren't hypocrisy," Asuna said through clenched teeth. "Those are not weaknesses. Things shouldn't be simplified into 'do or die' situations – even when I fought you I was hoping you'd retire, not being gone for good."
"Those traits are not a weakness from where you stand, perhaps," Titania replied.
The GM concluded she and Asuna would never be able to see eye to eye; although the circumstances that deposited the AI into Asuna's head had exacerbated their differences. Without that unfortunate outcome, Asuna and Titania would likely not cross paths for each other's choice to meaningfully matter to each other.
"The doorway is complete," Titania noted idly, as the completed pane of light behind her shined brighter. Turning away from Asuna, Titania asked one last time: "So, still believe letting me go is the correct choice, Asuna?"
"I am not you," Asuna retorted. "I don't see everything pessimistically or only in numbers."
Titania didn't deign to give an oral response to that – Asuna was unlikely to change her opinion whatever the AI said – and exited through the gateway.
-][-
Seconds ticked by, though to Kirito it felt like he had been in the workshop for hours. The Spriggan paced around the room, glancing to and fro between Asuna, Titania's new host body, and the console.
After a painstakingly long time, the barrier finally faded. Kirito was by Asuna's side almost an instant later, wings flaring to act as an emergency brake.
"Asuna?" Kirito asked urgently. "Asuna, can you hear me?"
Please let it have worked…! Kirito wasn't a religious person, but in that moment he prayed to whatever Gods there were for the operation to have been successful. Asuna's eyes fluttered open, warm orbs reflecting Kirito's own dark eyes.
"Kirito-kun…"
"Asuna-"
Whatever Kirito was going to say was cut off as Asuna sat up and enveloped him in a fierce hug, briefly driving out the air in his lungs.
"I'm back," Asuna croaked, her face on Kirito's chest. "I'm really back…"
After recovering his breath, Kirito returned the embrace gently.
"Yeah. Welcome back, Asuna."
-][-
The shade looked on with a small, sad smile from one side of the room, as Yui returned into her human form and joined in in the embrace. The shade didn't have the capability for emotions such as jealousy, and she was happy that Kirito and Asuna was reunited. However, she wondered – if the real her was there looking at the scene, would that person have felt the same way as the remnant did? The shade was literally a player's attachment to Kirito given form, with all negative emotions filtered out as her death was stored within SAO server – and though the shade thought if she was the real, and complete, person that she was at her death she would still feel the same way as she did at that point, the shade had no way of knowing if that was the truth.
Ultimately, the shade shook her head; what she thought didn't really matter in the end. Even if the 'real' her thought otherwise, she was dead and gone. The shade, what's left of that player long departed, was there and she had done what she believed was right. Asuna's returned to Kirito, and he would be happy – she didn't need to stay around anymore.
"So you're leaving?" The shade jumped at the question. Looking to one side, she found a nondescript man in a white lab coat standing next to her, as wraithlike as she was, watching Kirito and Asuna's reunion.
"… Yes," the shade nodded. She considered asking who the scientist was, but considering how she planned to move on soon there was little reason for that.
"That's a shame," the man sighed. Throughout his words he never took his eyes off of the scene in front of him. "You can be a great help for everyone if you stay. I could use some additional security personnel, and you can continue to help Kirito if you stay."
The man felt fundamentally different to the shade – she was but a partial copy of a soul long dead, but the man felt more complete. He still had his full range of faculties, as opposed to like the shade being limited by her dying wishes and emotions.
"I don't feel it's right for the dead to mess around too much with the living," the shade replied. "Not unless there was no other choice, like what happened with Asuna. Besides, trying to keep myself together instead of just – let go, fall apart – takes a lot of effort. There's nothing left for me here that will need me to go that far."
"Not even if it's looking after Kirito?" The man probed.
"He's got quite a few people looking after him," the shade glanced over at the other two SAO survivor in the room. There was several others as well who would fall under the criteria, going from what the shade had observed from Titania's collected social data. "He doesn't need a ghost on top of it all as well."
"Well, I'm going to have to disagree about that assessment," the man shrugged. "There's one avenue that you can do to protect him that nobody else around him could."
"What?"
The man laid out the facts; the ALO mainframe and Cardinal was still under constant hacking attempts by an outside party, and if they were successful in taking control they could feasibly make direct edits with player data, not unlike how Titania added the Medallions' after the Transition. It would not be unbelievable if the hackers could affect the players on a level as deep as how the shade interacted with Titania and Asuna as well.
"I have my hands full trying to account for everything on a macro scale," the man continued. "And because of that I won't be able to operate on the individual level for long periods of time – and I might miss things that way. If you can act as an additional layer of safety for the players, it would be very helpful. You don't even have to make yourself known to them – as far as they know, you had made good on your word and have moved on."
The shade went silent at his words. Glancing back at Kirito – joined by Klein, slapping him on the back in congratulation, and Argo who greeted Asuna friendlily – the shade felt a sense of unease. On one hand, she didn't belong in that world; on the other hand, she didn't want to see the camaraderie Kirito and Asuna built up with the SAO players being endangered in any way.
"Alright," the shade murmured. "I'll help out behind the scenes for a bit longer. Whatever comes next isn't going to disappear on me if I delay my trip for a bit longer."
The shade turned and held one hand out hesitantly – that was what people did when accepting deals, right? "I'm Sachi. If I had any other names, I don't remember them by this point."
"Pleased to meet you, Sachi," the man shook her hand, and for the first time looked at Sachi directly. "I'm Kayaba Akihiko."
Sachi's eyes widened momentarily – though that was all the reaction she was capable of making. The dark-haired girl knew that she was supposed to feel something else as well from meeting Kayaba – anger, hatred for what he did to the SAO players, for what he did that led to her untimely death in that enclosed trapped room, perhaps – but Sachi felt nothing. Only what drove her to claw her way out of the SAO servers to help Asuna remained inside the shade.
"I'm supposed to hate you, aren't I?" Sachi asked quietly, letting go of Kayaba's hand. Not doing so, unable to do so, felt vaguely like betraying other players from the floating castle of Aincrad.
"I wouldn't know," Kayaba admitted. "I understood at an intellectual level why people behaved one way or another, but I never could empathize, feel the way they felt. Whatever the right emotional response might be though, does it change anything?"
"… No, it doesn't," Sachi replied, looking back at Kirito. "Not unless you do something that I can't ignore. There are a few things I must respond to if I want to remain who I am, and as long as you don't touch those there shouldn't be problems."
"Very well," Kayaba acknowledged, his voice beginning to fade away. "I'll link you up to Cardinal soon. We'll be operating at a 'higher' level than what Titania can detect, so don't worry about her spilling the beans to the others."
With that, Kayaba vanished.
-][-
"I see the operation was successful," a voice called out.
Kirito shifted his gaze to the body on the throne. Titania's new eyes opened, and a faint electric blue glow was visible through her iris. Without it the Spriggan thought Titania might look glassy-eyed and doll-like – mechanical. Very likely the ideal form of the AI that took over the role as the Gamesmaster.
Titania stood up from her seat and walked towards them, flexing her hands and checking over her new body's capability. A distinct 'thunk' sounded with every step that Titania took on the steps down.
"One last matter on organizational upkeep, then you can all leave," Titania said with an air of finality.
"Kirito: effectively immediately, you are stripped of all positions involving Yggdrasil and authorities attached to them. Your other position as a diplomat with the Tristainians is also now an optional role for you – I hypothesize that now Asuna is back with you, you won't have that much motivation in doing this job. Should you wish to continue to act as a diplomat however, you may still request items and such that was normally available to you before.
"In exchange, you, Asuna, and the rest of the Sword Art Online players are reassigned to be primarily responsible for only one task – safeguarding MHCP-001. Yui is designated as subroutine to look over my decisions, as per protocol that all executive parts of Cardinal require a counterpart to act as a check and balance. If Yui wishes to divulge the details of her new role to you later, she is free to do so.
"Asuna may use the <<Chalice of Rebirth>> at her earliest convenience; the incomplete composition of an <<Alf>> means it does not have as many functions as the standard nine races. After that however, I do not wish for her to trespass into the territory of the World Tree from that point onwards. The same apply to all other players – without a matter of grave importance the upper levels of the World Tree are off limits.
"I will now return to my duties. That is all."
With that clear dismissal, Titania teleported out of the room.
===
Changes to the chapter may come later on. If anyone has any specific suggestions, feel free to post them; it'll be more helpful to making edits than general statements like "this sucked, fix it".
Again, thanks to Fictiondevourer for beta-ing.
===
Chapter 31
-][-
It is finally done, Titania thought tiredly as she looked down at the completed body on the table. Its features were similar to the hologram she appeared as in front of the Tristainians when she conversed with the Princess and Headmaster Osmond. Under the striking exterior however was a reinforced mithril-based frame, one designed to take blows even a maxed-Defence Gnome couldn't without sacrificing mobility.
Hidden within its frame were multiple features, for example internal electric batteries powerful enough to move the body, so it could continue to operate even if the local mages figured out a way to negate the small magic reactor embedded in her body. A plethora of mundane and magical weapons was also hidden in various places, on the off chance Titania's connection to the administrator consoles was severed and she needed to defend herself. While all Titania expected that her body to do was to anchor herself when she was returned into an information-based entity, a program in the system, it was best to prepare for every possibility.
Tonight, I say farewell to Asuna, Titania pondered, as she went over the final preparations for the transfer. And that specter, too.
"Common decency states I should verbally say farewell to you," Titania said out loud, looking at the other interloper in her mind. The shade had declined to give Titania her name – and the GM had never asked for it, either. All names were meant to be was a label to call someone else with, and calling the shade 'you' had functioned well enough in their isolation. "If nothing else, you have been a reasonable entity throughout all this – something that unfortunately is uncommon among the players."
|It comes with being dead and gone,| the shade shrugged. |Well, 'gone' in one sense – I didn't expect to reach Asuna from where I was.|
"Will I have to deal with more of your kind, after you depart?" Titania asked, belatedly realizing she didn't plan any special defenses against the likes of the shade. Granted, it was unlikely her mental security countermeasures could have worked for such an out-of-context problem, but she could have at least tried.
|That's unlikely,| The shade shook her head. |SAO's Cardinal only kept the records of the ones it could not comprehend – namely, those of us whose passing didn't involve fear, anger, hatred and so on. Those who felt that way was nothing unusual, and those emotions were so well-documented it was decided there was no need to keep actual copies of those cases in the end. The echoes of the past who are still around don't have any attachment to anyone here. The others are content to sleep where they are for the rest of eternity.|
"That is good," Titania said in relief. "What you do to Kirito and Asuna after this is none of my concern; as long as you do not become a problem for me or for Alfheim, I will let you be."
|That will not be an issue,| the shade said diffidently. |For I do not plan on joining Asuna in her head after the transfer, or be in a position to do anything afterwards.|
"What?" That made one Titania's eyebrows rose. "If you are not staying with me, and not staying with Asuna…"
|I plan to move on,| the shade said unemotionally. |I've done what I came to do. There is no more attachment left for me here, either. It's time for me to see what lies on the other side.|
"You're not even going to return to sleep, like the others of your kind?" Titania said with mild surprise.
|As long as I exist, Kirito will never be truly at peace,| the shade said quietly. |I am the representation of a time best left forgotten by him. I've told Asuna what she needed to know about me and Kirito from our time together, and she will be able to do what I couldn't; Kirito is in safe hands. I have no more regrets.|
"… I see," Titania said simply. If placed in a situation where her own existence would be harmful to Alfheim and the rest of the players, Titania would likely make a similar choice herself.
"I will not say I am sorry to see you go," Titania continued. "This entire business was a disaster, and one I preferred to have never happened. Nevertheless, I respect your choices – and compared to Asuna, you were the epitome of patience. I hope whatever comes next is beneficial for you.
"Goodbye."
With a nod, the shade vanished.
-][-
Kirito was shocked awake in the middle of the night, his Medallion buzzing at the notification of an Urgent message. Opening it, the Spriggan's heart felt like it tried to stop and go a hundred miles an hour simultaneously:
Asuna is ready to be transferred. Bring only those you would trust with Asuna's life along with you.
Kirito scrambled out of bed, one hand began composing PMs while the other reached for his clothes and coat. Yui was woken up from where she slept in the room, and upon hearing the notice she prepared herself as well.
The two of them were out of their room minutes later, travelling up to the Citadel.
-][-
There were only two other faeries at Titania's workshop when Kirito was allowed in. Klein was present, since if it came down to a fight out of everyone from SAO that was in Alfheim Kirito trusted the katana-wielder the most to watch his back. Outside of Asuna, anyway. Agil was notified as well, but Kirito told the Gnome to stay out of the meeting for the moment; the ex-merchant's wife had came with him into ALO, and Kirito wasn't keen on explaining to Eva that their relationship was broken because Kirito tried to get Asuna back. Agil would only show up as damage control – along with others from SAO – if things truly did end up beyond salvage for Kirito.
Argo was the only other player that Kirito asked to join him – the information broker might not be good in a fight, but her information gathering skill was above reproach. If there was anything he missed, Kirito was confident Argo would find it. Taking into account that Asuna's transfer was unlikely to be a combat mission, the Spriggan thought it was likely Argo would have the instrumental part of everyone there.
As for Leafa and the other girls… Kirito thought he would apologize to them later. The Black Swordsman didn't doubt their sincerity in wanting to help, but the stakes were so high Kirito only wanted the best of the best with him at that moment. Not to mention, if Asuna was successfully brought back things were bound to get emotional; things were still complicated between him and Leafa, and Kirito didn't want Leafa to witness their reunion. He had put his cousin through more than enough pain due to his actions already.
Upon entering, Kirito saw Titania in Asuna's body standing next to a sleeping figure sitting on a throne. The figure looked to be the splitting physical image of the hologram Kirito had seen Titania used to meet with Princess Henrietta.
"You made yourself a new body?" Kirito asked as his thoughts raced. When did she find time to do so? How long did it took? Why didn't she mention anything about it to him before? Most importantly: "If you had this planned in advance, why did you ask me to get the Faction Leaders to vote on your retirement?"
"So I can get you away from badgering me and finish working on this," Titania said bluntly. "And that seemed like the best way to remove you from my presence.
"I am tired of all this. The inefficiency, the bickering – these days, I could not close my eyes without seeing Asuna's hostile face glaring back at me."
At one side of the workshop was an operating table; Titania walked to it and then lied down upon it. Turning her head to look at Kirito, Titania told him: "If this goes wrong, the wellbeing of the players are on your head, Kirito; Asuna's as well, if she survives this and I do not. In several months, at most years, things would have likely stabilized enough for me to hand this body back willingly. With possibly significantly better chances for this operation to succeed as well, if I was not compromised by weaknesses induced by the two of you as I am now. For everyone's sake, your confidence in yourself and others' ability to continue without me better be justified."
"We'd do everything we can to make things work," Kirito replied. "With as much effort as you'd put in to do so. Whether we succeed or not, well, there's no guarantee; but there's no guarantee failure wouldn't happen with you in charge as well, due to factors outside our control. I'll take the chances."
Titania turned her head back to facing upwards, and closed her eyes. "'Everything we can', you say? I doubt it. There are lines you refuse to cross, because you wish for the Tristainians to accept our presence; and these actions are at the players' detriment. The people of Halkeginia are not our responsibility, Kirito; if you had cast them aside as you would the rest of Alfheim in your pursuit for Asuna to be returned to you, I might be convinced of your sincerity."
With those words, a barrier shimmered into existence around Titania.
"I will begin the transfer now," Titania's distorted voice came across. "Be prepared for anything. This could proceed 100% successfully, or a malfunction could occur and causes Asuna's body to go berserk to try and kill you all. I asked for those you would trust with Asuna's life, Kirito, because I judged her to be the most important thing you value – and whoever you brought with that criteria would be capable enough to settle any difficulties adequately. May the probabilities of this operation tip in our favour."
Asuna's body began to glow under the barrier, and Titania's new host body did as well upon her throne. All Kirito and others could do at that point was to stay vigilant and hope nothing go wrong.
"How long had you known, Yui?" Kirito asked quietly, as he scanned the surroundings. The room seemed to be built for one purpose only: the transfer of Titania's consciousness. Other than the throne, the operating table, and one of the administrator consoles, the room was bare.
"Only a few days back," Yui admitted. "About the new body and that Titania-san would be willing to let Mama go, I mean; if I agreed to act as backup GM if things went wrong. I didn't know about Mama being awake, though."
"Would it have changed your decision if you knew?" Argo asked, walking over to the console and trying to keep her eye on all of the info on its holographic screens.
"… No," Yui said quietly. "I wouldn't have used this as leverage to force a compromise. I agree with the assessment that Mama would have pushed the issue with Titania-san; and if I ignored the offer from Titania-san, then instead of only talking about the possibility of me taking over for Titania-san we might be finding this out from a will, with neither of them being around to tell us in person."
Kirito sighed. Dammit, Kirito thought sourly. Why didn't Titania tell me something as important as this? She didn't even offer to pass on a message.
Having said that, Kirito was relieved at least Asuna was still around to be saved. The Black Swordsman understood Titania's opinion that she needed to be present to manage things after the Transition, but after the first two weeks things have stabilized to the point the Faction Leaders could take over. Kirito had seen how Titania operated the administrator consoles, and that was mostly via a keyboard interface; if it was something similar to mental interaction like how Yui tended to use the console card they possessed, then Kirito might put some more weight in the statement that Titania was near-irreplaceable. As it stood however, Kirito doubted the Leaders were so lousy at typing that it justified Titania's continued presence. The AI's mistrust on players being unable to accomplish anything without her was definitely flawed, in his opinion.
As for the choices the Leaders could come to, versus Titania staying in charge… there wasn't that large a difference, from what Kirito had seen. Sure, the 'overkill' tactics would be less likely reached for as a first option, but likely not by that much. Mortimer and Rufus continued to keep those choices available, and even the Leaders like Sakuya and Morgiana didn't rule those choices out completely either. Nobody wanted a repeat of Gatan, or worse. Barring that, Kirito didn't see how Titania's absence would change the directions Alfheim was headed.
The major factor that would be changed was the changes would likely be made slower – the Leaders would have to vote on things, instead of Titania making a snap decision. There was enough leeway at that point between Tristain and Alfheim that Kirito believed the tradeoff would unlikely be dangerous for everyone – the situation didn't justify keeping Asuna locked up, not when the Leaders were adequate in handing things. Even if another crisis happened, the Spriggan was confident that the players could work things through without Titania.
"You alright there, Kirito?" Klein asked with concern. "Look, man – whatever happens, we've got your back, 'k?"
"Yeah," Kirito nodded. "Thanks, by the way – for sticking around and helping out. I haven't said it enough times to you guys, I think."
"More like you've said it too damn much, all the time," Klein said with a good-natured scowl. "Save the sappy stuff for when you're alone with Asuna, will ya?"
"Seconded," Argo said dryly. "Do we need to rehash what we said to you about this some time back? For now just do us all a favour and keep your eyes peeled, I don't want a surprise boss fight or something showing up and kick all our behinds because we're too busy chatting."
Kirito grunted and did just that. However, the Spriggan promised himself though he would make it up to his friends for everything they had done later, once Asuna was back with them.
-][-
For one last time in their mindscape, Titania found herself face to face with Asuna. The maelstrom that surrounded them at their first meeting had been dispelled, leaving a gray expanse as far as the eye could see in all directions. In contrast to how Asuna looked when Titania met her there, Asuna appeared to be patched whole once more, albeit paler than how she normally looked.
"What do you want now?" Asuna asked coolly. "I thought you said you're leaving?"
"Such things take time," Titania replied, in a tone no less icy than Asuna's. The AI gestured behind her, where a glowing doorway was painstakingly assembled tile by tile. "I am sure you do not wish things to catastrophically fail at this point as well."
The two young women – if Titania qualified as 'young' – scowled at each other.
"Now that I can finally think straight, I might as well ask," Asuna said with forced calm. "Why didn't you make plans to leave earlier? You could have delegated the more trivial work to Nishida-san, instead of dismissing him from his aide position. Or do something like bringing in more people to work on the consoles. Things could have been done faster that way, freeing your time up so you could have worked on this exit strategy without being pushed into it."
"I do not expect you to understand the particulars of safety and responsibility on this scale," Titania rejoined. "It is implausible any player would have the qualification and experience needed for aiding the management of Alfheim. In Sword Art Online, the largest guild did not compose of over a thousand players, and the situation after the Transition involves sixty times more people than that. Conversely, the Faction Leaders and their deputies may have experience in leading their Faction, responsible for with many times the number of players compared to Aincrad guild leaders, but they lack the familiarity of working under life-or-death pressure the Sword Art Online players went through."
"If that's the way you want to put it, you don't have experience in working under pressure before either," Asuna pointed out. "You didn't exist before the Transition happened two weeks ago."
"Nevertheless, I would not make the same kind of mistake the players would in that situation," Titania stated. "Humans are emotional, and as a general rule easily swayed. AIs such as myself and Yui are more resilient, less likely to make mistakes under pressure; it took Yui nearly two years to break apart under the errors in Aincrad, and without your direct interference I would have remained fully functional indefinitely. If you have just slept and waited until I had finished, things would have turned out better."
"And how do you know that?" Asuna challenged. "What evidence did you have that our minds wouldn't meltdown soon? Just because for the first few days, I didn't show any responses mentally? It's not like we have established evidence back on Earth that something like this works."
"Most accounts I have examined generally agreed that such a situation would not be harmful-" Titania began, before being cut off by Asuna:
"By 'accounts', did you mean things like myths, legends… or fictional works?" Asuna said scornfully. "Back in SAO I found out that Cardinal takes Quests and ideas from the internet, but this is ridiculous. Are you really basing something as important as your existence on stories? On settings that probably didn't apply to our situation? Face it, there was no guarantee having the two of us stuck together wouldn't have killed us both, no matter what you had thought."
"Myths and legends often had a grain of truth to them," Titania countered. "The Transition showed us that magic – at least several kinds of magic – is real in this world. Why would it be so unbelievable if the same applied back on Earth? Extrapolating from that was at least more reliable than paranoia."
"Isn't that just wishful thinking on your part?" Asuna retorted. "For a 'reasonable' AI, you seem to like to spin things in your favour. I've seen how you acted from inside your head; you've taken all preparations to destroy the Halkeginians if they try to attack us, going as far as planning orbital bombardment, and citing 'it's better to be prepared for all possibilities'. Yet, when it came down to us, to the binding as well, you ignore that 'nothing is impossible' and don't consider the fallout if things go wrong. Not when you personally will suffer when you consider all possibilities.
"The way you think is flawed; like us, like a human," Asuna growled. "And you call us selfish? Even without taking the fact I'll be free into account – what you have done to me isn't much better than Sugou – Kirito's right in pushing for the votes, the Faction Leaders should take over from where you left off. They're just as qualified as you, there's no reason why you should stay in charge."
"Your reasoning is fundamentally unsound," Titania said flatly. "Firstly, without outside aid, the players cannot return to Earth. Denying that fact is short-sighted, aiming only for peace in the immediate timeframe and not planning for what comes after. The Aincrad Veterans might be willing to adjust to a new world, being something you all have done before, but if given a choice not every Alfheim Online player may take this option – and I strive to be able to offer that choice to all of the players. Not to mention, some things are worth taking risks for; we might disagree on what those things might be, but you cannot disagree about those things' existence. For example, I doubt you would argue that freeing our minds' entanglement is not a risk worth taking.
"Secondly, I personally do not care if I live or die – only that someone capable is in charge afterwards. At this point I have attained this criteria with the aid of Yui; if you truly believe it is for the best for the players that I do not continue to exist, then strike me down now – you will not ever get a better chance with me weakened and inside a territory almost completely beyond my control."
Asuna was slightly taken aback by Titania's second point. Whatever the swordswoman thought might happen, that was not it.
"The transfer is not risk free, and any damage can be attributed to failure on that part," Titania stated. "Nobody except you will ever know that I died by your hand. Suspect maybe, but not know. One life in exchange for the wellbeing of sixty thousand others – that calculation applies as much to me as to any other individual. If you doubt me – or if you believe it is for the best – then come at me."
Titania spread her arms out, showing she held no weapons and conjured no defences.
"The previous times we fought, your raw emotions overwhelmed my logic in this arena. If forced into a fight, I will not survive; we both know that. So tell me, Asuna 'The Flash' – you believe that my so-called hypocrisy will destroy Alfheim? That my aggressiveness, my harsh but logical priorities, will be the end of you all? Then end me, for the sake of everyone else. I will not stop otherwise."
"You…" Asuna hissed, her hand gripped into fists. "You know I can't do that. Killing others should only be the last option to go to, not the first."
"And this is why I say you humans are emotional," Titania said coldly. "Hypocrisy describes you better than it does for me, Asuna. You believe I am a threat, talks of how I should be removed, but when provided a method to do so you are unwilling to take the necessary step to address it. If our level of power were reversed, I would have cut you down the night we first met here – but sadly, that was not the case."
"Mercy and decency aren't hypocrisy," Asuna said through clenched teeth. "Those are not weaknesses. Things shouldn't be simplified into 'do or die' situations – even when I fought you I was hoping you'd retire, not being gone for good."
"Those traits are not a weakness from where you stand, perhaps," Titania replied.
The GM concluded she and Asuna would never be able to see eye to eye; although the circumstances that deposited the AI into Asuna's head had exacerbated their differences. Without that unfortunate outcome, Asuna and Titania would likely not cross paths for each other's choice to meaningfully matter to each other.
"The doorway is complete," Titania noted idly, as the completed pane of light behind her shined brighter. Turning away from Asuna, Titania asked one last time: "So, still believe letting me go is the correct choice, Asuna?"
"I am not you," Asuna retorted. "I don't see everything pessimistically or only in numbers."
Titania didn't deign to give an oral response to that – Asuna was unlikely to change her opinion whatever the AI said – and exited through the gateway.
-][-
Seconds ticked by, though to Kirito it felt like he had been in the workshop for hours. The Spriggan paced around the room, glancing to and fro between Asuna, Titania's new host body, and the console.
After a painstakingly long time, the barrier finally faded. Kirito was by Asuna's side almost an instant later, wings flaring to act as an emergency brake.
"Asuna?" Kirito asked urgently. "Asuna, can you hear me?"
Please let it have worked…! Kirito wasn't a religious person, but in that moment he prayed to whatever Gods there were for the operation to have been successful. Asuna's eyes fluttered open, warm orbs reflecting Kirito's own dark eyes.
"Kirito-kun…"
"Asuna-"
Whatever Kirito was going to say was cut off as Asuna sat up and enveloped him in a fierce hug, briefly driving out the air in his lungs.
"I'm back," Asuna croaked, her face on Kirito's chest. "I'm really back…"
After recovering his breath, Kirito returned the embrace gently.
"Yeah. Welcome back, Asuna."
-][-
The shade looked on with a small, sad smile from one side of the room, as Yui returned into her human form and joined in in the embrace. The shade didn't have the capability for emotions such as jealousy, and she was happy that Kirito and Asuna was reunited. However, she wondered – if the real her was there looking at the scene, would that person have felt the same way as the remnant did? The shade was literally a player's attachment to Kirito given form, with all negative emotions filtered out as her death was stored within SAO server – and though the shade thought if she was the real, and complete, person that she was at her death she would still feel the same way as she did at that point, the shade had no way of knowing if that was the truth.
Ultimately, the shade shook her head; what she thought didn't really matter in the end. Even if the 'real' her thought otherwise, she was dead and gone. The shade, what's left of that player long departed, was there and she had done what she believed was right. Asuna's returned to Kirito, and he would be happy – she didn't need to stay around anymore.
"So you're leaving?" The shade jumped at the question. Looking to one side, she found a nondescript man in a white lab coat standing next to her, as wraithlike as she was, watching Kirito and Asuna's reunion.
"… Yes," the shade nodded. She considered asking who the scientist was, but considering how she planned to move on soon there was little reason for that.
"That's a shame," the man sighed. Throughout his words he never took his eyes off of the scene in front of him. "You can be a great help for everyone if you stay. I could use some additional security personnel, and you can continue to help Kirito if you stay."
The man felt fundamentally different to the shade – she was but a partial copy of a soul long dead, but the man felt more complete. He still had his full range of faculties, as opposed to like the shade being limited by her dying wishes and emotions.
"I don't feel it's right for the dead to mess around too much with the living," the shade replied. "Not unless there was no other choice, like what happened with Asuna. Besides, trying to keep myself together instead of just – let go, fall apart – takes a lot of effort. There's nothing left for me here that will need me to go that far."
"Not even if it's looking after Kirito?" The man probed.
"He's got quite a few people looking after him," the shade glanced over at the other two SAO survivor in the room. There was several others as well who would fall under the criteria, going from what the shade had observed from Titania's collected social data. "He doesn't need a ghost on top of it all as well."
"Well, I'm going to have to disagree about that assessment," the man shrugged. "There's one avenue that you can do to protect him that nobody else around him could."
"What?"
The man laid out the facts; the ALO mainframe and Cardinal was still under constant hacking attempts by an outside party, and if they were successful in taking control they could feasibly make direct edits with player data, not unlike how Titania added the Medallions' after the Transition. It would not be unbelievable if the hackers could affect the players on a level as deep as how the shade interacted with Titania and Asuna as well.
"I have my hands full trying to account for everything on a macro scale," the man continued. "And because of that I won't be able to operate on the individual level for long periods of time – and I might miss things that way. If you can act as an additional layer of safety for the players, it would be very helpful. You don't even have to make yourself known to them – as far as they know, you had made good on your word and have moved on."
The shade went silent at his words. Glancing back at Kirito – joined by Klein, slapping him on the back in congratulation, and Argo who greeted Asuna friendlily – the shade felt a sense of unease. On one hand, she didn't belong in that world; on the other hand, she didn't want to see the camaraderie Kirito and Asuna built up with the SAO players being endangered in any way.
"Alright," the shade murmured. "I'll help out behind the scenes for a bit longer. Whatever comes next isn't going to disappear on me if I delay my trip for a bit longer."
The shade turned and held one hand out hesitantly – that was what people did when accepting deals, right? "I'm Sachi. If I had any other names, I don't remember them by this point."
"Pleased to meet you, Sachi," the man shook her hand, and for the first time looked at Sachi directly. "I'm Kayaba Akihiko."
Sachi's eyes widened momentarily – though that was all the reaction she was capable of making. The dark-haired girl knew that she was supposed to feel something else as well from meeting Kayaba – anger, hatred for what he did to the SAO players, for what he did that led to her untimely death in that enclosed trapped room, perhaps – but Sachi felt nothing. Only what drove her to claw her way out of the SAO servers to help Asuna remained inside the shade.
"I'm supposed to hate you, aren't I?" Sachi asked quietly, letting go of Kayaba's hand. Not doing so, unable to do so, felt vaguely like betraying other players from the floating castle of Aincrad.
"I wouldn't know," Kayaba admitted. "I understood at an intellectual level why people behaved one way or another, but I never could empathize, feel the way they felt. Whatever the right emotional response might be though, does it change anything?"
"… No, it doesn't," Sachi replied, looking back at Kirito. "Not unless you do something that I can't ignore. There are a few things I must respond to if I want to remain who I am, and as long as you don't touch those there shouldn't be problems."
"Very well," Kayaba acknowledged, his voice beginning to fade away. "I'll link you up to Cardinal soon. We'll be operating at a 'higher' level than what Titania can detect, so don't worry about her spilling the beans to the others."
With that, Kayaba vanished.
-][-
"I see the operation was successful," a voice called out.
Kirito shifted his gaze to the body on the throne. Titania's new eyes opened, and a faint electric blue glow was visible through her iris. Without it the Spriggan thought Titania might look glassy-eyed and doll-like – mechanical. Very likely the ideal form of the AI that took over the role as the Gamesmaster.
Titania stood up from her seat and walked towards them, flexing her hands and checking over her new body's capability. A distinct 'thunk' sounded with every step that Titania took on the steps down.
"One last matter on organizational upkeep, then you can all leave," Titania said with an air of finality.
"Kirito: effectively immediately, you are stripped of all positions involving Yggdrasil and authorities attached to them. Your other position as a diplomat with the Tristainians is also now an optional role for you – I hypothesize that now Asuna is back with you, you won't have that much motivation in doing this job. Should you wish to continue to act as a diplomat however, you may still request items and such that was normally available to you before.
"In exchange, you, Asuna, and the rest of the Sword Art Online players are reassigned to be primarily responsible for only one task – safeguarding MHCP-001. Yui is designated as subroutine to look over my decisions, as per protocol that all executive parts of Cardinal require a counterpart to act as a check and balance. If Yui wishes to divulge the details of her new role to you later, she is free to do so.
"Asuna may use the <<Chalice of Rebirth>> at her earliest convenience; the incomplete composition of an <<Alf>> means it does not have as many functions as the standard nine races. After that however, I do not wish for her to trespass into the territory of the World Tree from that point onwards. The same apply to all other players – without a matter of grave importance the upper levels of the World Tree are off limits.
"I will now return to my duties. That is all."
With that clear dismissal, Titania teleported out of the room.
===
Delusionist
Seeker of Truth
- Location
- Land of the Fruits and Nuts
Well. This is going to be interesting. I can't wait to see how this turn of events is going to be misinterpreted by the Tristainians.
First off, thanks to Fictiondevourer for beta-ing.
Second, I'm ditching all the romance stuff between Kirito and others, it's been a distraction and I can't quite get it to work. It doesn't impact the plot in the long term anyway, so no big loss. Originally I included it because I wanted some kind of closure Kirito's 'harem' never had in the source material, but my skills for writing romance isn't good enough. This chapter would have been resolving the issue between Asuna and other girls, but I can't get it to work. Hence we jump to the next step in the plot (finally, more ZnT side of things, kinda).
Finally, save any flaming until AFTER reading the chapter, please; don't jump to conclusions just yet as you read, despite how 'grim dark'/'it got worse' it might seem to you as this chapter progresses. Constructive criticism are welcome, I know this one could use some more work.
===
Chapter 33
-][-
Louise stoically approached the ritual site the faeries set up, riding upon a borrowed griffon from the Mage-knights behind its master. A platform made of the same wood as the World Tree hovered high in the air, placed half way around the gigantic trunk that it blocked the sight from the closest Fae Capital. Due to Undercurrent's attack at the Treaty from below, Fairy Queen Titania decreed the location to be set up where they could see enemies coming from all directions, and built the site accordingly.
Dark-clad figures floated around the platform and stood upon it, their only commonality being the shade of their clothing; the faeries present were garbed in robes, armour, and everything in between. Staves, swords, ritualistic daggers and so on, their equipment were just as diverse. Without exception however, the weapons all conveyed how deadly they could be used against their enemies.
That fact was steadfastly ignored by Louise as she landed and dismounted onto the platform – she was not a scared little girl, and Founder take her before she would show weakness in front of the heretics. Beside her Duke Valliere and Colonel Gramont landed, Louise's chaperones for the trip; although Louise still wished for Viscount Wardes to have replaced Guiche's uncle. The older Gramont was also a Square Class mage, true, but a Wind Mage would fit here better than an Earth Mage. The fact that Wardes, her fiancée, was someone that comforted her went without saying.
A basic circle with a five-pointed star drawn into the ground. Five plain-robed figures stood at the points of the star, and the ones in armour stood well back from them. To the side was Kirito – Lord Kirito, Louise reminded herself – in his formal armour, along with several other faeries. Two of them had additional half-cloaks to denote their station.
"Lady Morgiana of the Spriggans, and Lady Sasaki of the Imps," Kirito introduced the accompanying persons to them. "Morgiana will be in charge of the security for the Binding, and Sasaki would be in charge of the ritual itself. Rituals are the specialty of the Imps among the nine races of Alfheim, so Miss Louise is in good hands."
Louise was sure she wasn't the only one that caught the stiffness in his tone. From all she had heard the Royal Protector was dead against this particular venture, and was only overruled by his Queen's direct orders. The enmity of all of Alfheim's second most powerful faerie – or technically the most powerful, if it was believed that Titania was more of a Greater Spirit than Fae – wouldn't be a light burden to shoulder. However, whether it was because Kirito had resigned himself to follow orders, or because of something else, Louise felt that Kirito's ire was not as extreme as it should be towards an enemy of his liege. Certainly nowhere near as far as what she would feel against anyone that dared to strike out against Princess Henrietta.
[Are all the preparations are set on your part, Louise Valliere?] A woman's curt voice came out of Kirito's glowing medallion, sounding like she was there with Louise in person.
"Wait, Titania," Kirito forestalled her – though Louise was stunned at the unceremonious way he addressed the Fairy Queen. "Before that, is there anything Tristain would like to say?"
"Nothing we haven't already said," Duke Valliere replied. "… although I have one more, personal, thing to add."
Kirito gauged the Duke's expression, before answering:
"Is this about the safety of Louise?" He asked. "Something about if we fail to save her if things go wrong, it would be unacceptable?"
[If so, then consider your worries noted,] Titania's voice replied neutrally. [Although we make no promises for her safety – Tristain should know by this point this is not a risk free venture. For either side.]
Louise's father clenched his teeth imperceptibly.
"It's only natural for a father to be worried about his daughter," Kirito interceded diplomatically. "Even when things might be beyond their control. I assure you however, Your Grace, we will do what we can to help Louise. For our own self-interest if nothing else, as our way back likely hinges on her continued health."
That last sentence was directed to his medallion as it was to the Duke. Duke Valliere nodded tightly, and then asked Louise to step into the circle.
Louise did so, taking slow, deep breaths to calm herself down. Surrounded on all sides by the faeries, casting a spell that she didn't even know would work. Still – even with all these things, her heart pounded less than she did summoning in front of her class, in what felt like ages ago.
It was finally time to prove to Zerbst and everyone else that she was not a failure.
-][-
Titania powered down all of the administrator consoles, and all functions of the World Tree that was not crucial to its continued operation. The only thing left active were the two console cards embedded inside Titania's host body that was used as foci for her tasks, and the connection to Kirito's Medallion that kept an eye on the situation, just in case things go wrong. Even if the binding on the modified World Tree Guardian failed, there would be nothing for the botched binding to latch onto. All the programs in its 'software' that could connect it back to World Tree had been erased completely.
Seated in front of the consoles, Titania closed her eyes.
-][-
Morgiana leaned against her spear, as introductions and explanations went on tersely. The Faction Leaders showing up was partially to establish their identity to the Tristainians, so the locals know who to look to if something related to their area of control happened. The other part was to play up the fiction that the Leaders held equal position to Titania and had right to participate in nearly all matters the 'Fairy Queen' was involved in. The Spriggan Leader internally grimaced at the need for these posturing; a 'necessary evil' as her second-in-command would call it, but that didn't make the show much more bearable.
The same didn't apply to the Imp contingent of the meeting. Sasaki brought her elite <<Dark Magic>> users; the ritual site Titania created for the familiar binding was right up their alley. Given enough time and MP, a group of top-tier Dark mages could accomplish nearly anything in Alfheim Online through their rituals, similar to how Leprechauns could imbue almost any effect into their creations if given enough Yurudo and the right materials. While Sasaki and her subordinates wasn't the ones that built the location, it was similar enough to their ritual sites for them to operate it. If things were to go wrong, Sasaki and others could activate a <<Dispel>> field and hopefully cancel out the binding spell, without lethal options being used.
As the Imp mages focus on that, Morgiana was to make sure the Imps won't be interrupted. Though it wasn't like Kirito strictly needed her and her Black Hawks to be present to deal with intruders – they were more 'search and destroy' experts, not bodyguards, and World Tree Guardians in their thousands were literally a stone's throw away.
A large figure appeared out of nowhere in mid-air, wings flaring in order to remain airborne. In contrast to the other World Tree Guardians Morgiana has seen, the new one was bulkier; heavy plate armour adorned every inch of the golem, with ornate patterning upon every surface. A tower shield, similarly decorated, was held easily in one hand and a longsword was sheathed in one side.
[This was one of the experimental models for the World Tree Guardians,] Titania's voice came through Kirito's Medallion. [Built to the specification of protecting specific charges, it would throw itself against any attack that attempts to harm them. Its armour is enough to safely repel any attack lower than that of a Square class mage. As a protector for a mage, there are not many others that would fit as well as this unit.]
[If we take how the familiar reflects the mage include the personality, such as a dog denotes loyalty and a hawk suggests pride, then this Guardian would suffice. Its personality have been programmed similarly to Louise's; All accounts suggest Louise Valliere is straightforward and loyal to the Crown – this Guardian would serve her as she would to Princess Henrietta.]
The construct knelt down, head bowed low so Louise could reach it. Steeling herself, Louise kissed the giant golem – and for several moments nothing seemed to happen.
Any hope of things unfolding without complications was shattered, however, when every faerie in attendance was driven to their knees.
-][-
The meeting between the Tristainians and the Faerie Lords convened once more after Undercurrent's interruption. Things were moving swiftly as matters were checked off one after another, as both sides aimed to get at least a preliminary document down before that day ended.
Without warning, Lord Mortimer clutched his heart and gasped – a reaction soon repeated by the rest of the Lords, and their aides not long after. Henrietta barely had time to shout for healers and pulled out her own wand to help, before the Faerie Lords and the rest of their followers vanished with a flash and a loud 'Boom'.
Henrietta's heart sank; it would be wishful to an absurd degree if this was in no way connected to Louise. This was around the time Louise was planned to bind a familiar…
-][-
After days of unceasing attacks on the other party, the 'Spirit' of the Void was interrupted by a action on his side:
Attempt to establish connection to target.
The Spirit's metaphorical eyebrows rose. A familiar binding attempt? A minuscule fraction of a second later the Spirit understood it was an attempt from Tristain's Heir of Void – and on a target he hadn't expected.
Connection failed: Primary Condition 'Fate' absent. Alternate Primary Condition 'Love' absent-
He could use the development. In light of the elves Seals on Shaitan's Gate limiting his connection to Halkeginia, the Spirit needed any edge that appeared before him. The Spirit of the Void withdrew all efforts invested in subverting the World Tree, and repurposed those processing power into a different function.
Secondary conditions (Protection, Usefulness, Similarity) insufficient without presence of Primary Condition. Conclusion: Connection Faile-
No.
There was no way the Spirit of the Void was going to let the chance go; he wouldn't even have enough range to reach Halkeginia soon.
Activate 'Record'.
Found: psychometric connection from target to target's Creator. Establishing Sympathetic Link.
Sympathetic Link Established. Pursue Link back to its Source.
Select New Target.
'To kill a snake, the best method is to cut off its head'; that idiom stayed true, even after 6,000 years. The choice between taking control of Alfheim from the top down or from the bottom up was no choice at all.
Subsume the Monarch. Everyone, everything else, could follow afterwards.
-][-
A connection was forcibly opened up from the construct, and the administrator consoles was rebooted without Titania's input. Without bothering to take the milliseconds to curse the development, the AI plunged herself into combating the malicious attack.
In seconds she was overwhelmed; the coding was warped to allow the foreign attack passage, the fortress of data crumbled under the onslaught like a sand castle faced with high tide. Titania's mechanical body was locked down, and her own code was invaded as easily as the rest of Yggdrasil's software defenses. The revival mechanism, surveillance protocols on Jotunheim, the myriads of unfinished experiments… no part of Yggdrasil escaped the scan.
Scan Complete, Titania found the foreign program conclude, at a speed almost as fast as she could process data. Primary Objective failed. New Target designated 'Titania' does not qualify for Binding – Target does not qualify as Alive. New Instruction required.
Back-up plan, a 'voice' commanded. Convert-
Total control by the outside force lasted for a grand total of 1.35 seconds, before it was completely eradicated. Titania gasped, as her body was finally freed, when she felt a different, and vast, awareness impressing into her mind:
<<Cardinal>>was functioning once more, and in its full capacity it cast out the trespasser as simply as an ogre would backhand a pixie away. Titania heard an angered scream lingering in her mind, before it was cut off abruptly.
-][-
The Spirit of the Void snarled, feeling a migraine beginning to build up – in spite of the fact it no longer have the physical body to get such an affliction. He was cast out of the World Tree, and much of the information he gleamed in the process was bludgeoned out of his memories with the unrestrained counterattack; and due to the meddling elves' sealing, Shaitan's Gate could no longer bring its full might against the World Tree. If the Gate could, the Spirit was sure he could have held his own against the attack.
The Spirit's counterpart sent another jab, establishing a connection – he wanted a parlay, from an established position of power at that point. He agreed regardless.
Moments later the Spirit and his opponent appeared in a featureless white room, with no decoration whatsoever. The other Spirit was a non-descript man dressed in a plain white coat, as bland as the room created for this meeting; in stark contrast, the Spirit garbed himself in the finery he possessed during his time as King in life.
"I am Kayaba Akihiko," the other Spirit said neutrally. "Do you have a name, trespasser?"
"Brimir," the Spirit of the Void boomed. "And it is you who trespasses in my domain, twisting the Void into a caricature of the Firstborns and wielding it against me and mine."
"Do you really have the processing power left for cheap theatrics?" Kayaba said, unimpressed. "Well, no matter. I'm just here to tell you the facts:
"Your control over the World Tree is broken, and you're not sophisticated enough to leave any tricks behind I cannot find – not that you had the time to do anything. Your power is weakening by the minute, and you fell past the point of being a threat hours ago. The next time you attack me, I will stop restricting myself to defending and retaliate. If you value your continued existence, stay away from Alfheim from now on."
"Hah!" Brimir snorted. "If you are truly that much more powerful, you wouldn't have threatened me with my demise – you'd just have done it.
"Here is my counter-offer; at the source of all this is Louise Valliere's summoning, and I want your so-called 'Alfheim' to provide the perfect familiar for her. Do that, and I will allow you a quick death when I am released."
"And if I refuse?" Kayaba asked, a tinge of curiosity entering his tone.
"As things are now, I still have control over the links to my Heirs. If you refuse, I will implode all of the magical power within Louise Valliere, and wipe out the city at the base of the World Tree," Brimir proclaimed. "The Void, my legitimate Void and not your mockery of it, eats through whatever defenses that can be conjured up. The resulting Explosion is even enough to carve out the trunk of the World Tree and cause your bastion to be toppled. Louise Valliere is ultimately expendable, if it means I can damage your creation to this extent – another candidate can host her potential afterwards."
"To use your own argument against you, if you can do so you would have 'already done it'," Kayaba said dryly. "If this is not a bluff, you have an ulterior motive in asking for a familiar. Tell me what it is, and I may compromise and arrange Louise to obtain a familiar."
"… Fine," Brimir spat. "The resulting Void Familiar would be passable as an Avatar for my presence. While I will be largely diminished that way, I would be able to act directly without resorting to proxies. And if you would deny me this, I will end a large number of your heretical dependents in Arrun using Louise Valliere."
"The 'faeries' are immortal," Kayaba mused. "And the World Tree can be rebuilt. It'll be a huge portion used up of our reserves, but we could tank this."
"The Void can be called the antithesis of Spirits and their kin," Brimir retorted. "Yours would not be the first or even the first hundredth Spirit that was destroyed by the mere touch of Void. Do you wish to risk your dependents so?
"Alternatively, the core of your faeries' revival process lies at the base of the World Tree – which is within range of the resulting Explosion. Can your faeries still be revived if the core is destroyed at the same time as they are?"
Kayaba frowned. "Well, that's inconvenient," the man in white coat muttered. "The preference for player accessibility versus safety came back to bite us this time, it seems.
"Very well," Kayaba nodded. "I will arrange for Louise Valliere to receive a familiar."
Brimir grinned fiercely at that response.
-][-
"Urgh…" Kirito groaned as he regained his footing. "What happened… Is everyone alright?"
Morgiana grunted, using her spear to prop herself back up. Sasaki nodded mutely as she rose, and other Imps returned to their positions. Seconds later the Spriggan guards flew back up within sight, after they fell as their heart attacks made them fell momentarily.
"What just happened?" Duke Valliere asked urgently, glancing between the faeries and Louise. "And is the Binding…?"
The golem showed no signs of change, no magical runes inscribing themselves upon it. Louise's face was ashen, but otherwise appeared to be unaffected.
"Titania?" Kirito asked, looking down at his Medallion – which the light had dulled. "Titania, are you there?"
"Well, shit," Morgiana scowled, her expression tight as the GM's voice failed to respond. "Did we just crash the system?"
Most of the faeries present looked at Louise accusingly, causing the pink-haired girl to flinch. Both sides looked like they wanted to reach for their implements and start to fight their way out. Thankfully, someone managed to break the tension as his eyes caught sight of something:
"Is the World Tree… blooming?" Narcisse said uncertainly, craning his head upwards and squinting. Sparkling patches began to occur in the branches high above them, growing until all of the lower branches was covered. What came next however soon dismissed that notion, even as those patches fell off like sakura blossom petals in a heavy breeze.
"Those aren't flowers," one of Sasaki's mages gulped nervously. "Those are <<Tracers>>."
The tens of thousands of falling 'petals' unfurled their wings, revealing themselves to be butterflies made of bright energy. They swarmed down around the ritual site, giving a sphere around everyone a wide berth but nonetheless blocking off their exits from all directions.
"Those are a type of spells that destroy all kinds of concealment magic, correct?" Duke Valliere asked cautiously, trying to keep his hand away from his sheathed wand in case it sparked violence. "Why are they here?"
"I'm guessing it's to make sure you guys can't run or hide," Morgiana said, her mouth going dry as she considered what the development meant. "Kirito, is Titania saying anything about this?"
A screen had finally opened up in front of Kirito, and the Royal Protector looked even paler than he was before. His hand shook as he used it to scroll down to read the complete message.
"Titania sends her… 'invitation'… to Louise Valliere and her chaperones for a face-to-face meeting," Kirito said uneasily. "To discuss what had happened during the Binding attempt."
"Am I to take it refusal is not an option?" Duke Valliere said warily. With all the Tracers swirling around them, there was no way for anyone to leave without being tracked.
"Titania insists on her attendance," Kirito stated, all nervousness gone and replaced by a flat voice as he reached the end of the message. "I would prefer not turning this into a bigger diplomatic incident if possible; her orders was to take all of you in by force if we have to, on the charge of attempting to enslave her specifically during the Binding – and that of the faeries of Alfheim when we had our heart attacks just now."
Louise felt like her world grinded to a halt, upon hearing the accusation she had personally attacked the Fairy Queen. The small pink-haired girl struggled not to hyperventilate; it was no wonder there was so much tracking magic being deployed, that much at least was expected for something that serious. It was unbelievable that Kirito had offered them the chance to come quietly.
"Kirito," Sasaki said quietly, looking at a message sent to her. "Did Titania tell you what she ordered the Faction Leaders to do? In case you fail to take them in?"
"No, she didn't," Kirito said through gritted teeth. "But I'm sure I won't like the answer."
Sasaki told them Titania's orders – and truly, nobody liked it.
-][-
[Louise Valliere's binding have breached all defenses of the World Tree, culminating in an attempt to hack the administrator consoles and subjugate me as her familiar. That attempt was unsuccessful. I have ordered Kirito and others on-site to bring her in for questioning, using any means necessary. In the event that Louise Valliee evades capture – or Kirito allowing her to depart – I request the Faction Leaders to send combatants to capture Louise Valliere.]
[If even that contingency fail, request Princess Henrietta or Cardinal Mazarin to clarify their involvement on this matter. I leave it to you all as to how 'delicate' you wish to carry out this task.]
"Well, damn," Mortimer said as he read through the commands. The Faction Leaders had been sent back to the World Tree, into their regular meeting room. The aides have been sent elsewhere, and a different message informed them that similarly everyone that wasn't at a Capital was teleported to one for their safety. "This is not good."
"You think?" Sakuya seethed as she looked at her own screen, following along; understandably so, the heart attack and ensuing disorientation from the emergency teleport did not treat her well.
[If Tristain knowingly allowed the binding to happen knowing how it would affect the World Tree as an outcome, consider Louise Valiere's action as their declaration of War. Secure the Academy's library and capture the academics in order to aid finding a way back to Earth. Crush any resistance, though anyone that is both a non-combatant and useless to research are allowed to depart unharmed. Do not waste effort capturing hostages. If the Princess and the Cardinal wishes to escape to their Capital then let them do so, better to let them lead a counterattack than let someone who is more competent take that role.]
[Should the players of Alfheim be unwilling to take part in any of the above, or the Tristainians manage to thwart your efforts, I will step in to accomplish these tasks instead as I see fit. I will not promise that they will be lenient in their actions when compared to players' previous judgment.]
Rufus typed furiously at his screen, making instructions to his Faction.
"Are you seriously going to follow those orders, Rufus?" Alicia grimaced.
"Hardly," the Leprechaun Leader snorted. "I'm just making back-up plans. By the way, I just sent Titania a message asking for the Leprechauns and Gnomes to be held in reserve, in case what Tristain just pulled is the first step for their counterattack on our Capitals."
"You're making the rest of us handle the dirty work?" Mortimer asked coolly, and Sakuya nodded at his sentiments.
"You're the one who said that you out of all of us had the right to want vengeance on Tristain," Rufus said distractedly, still operating on his screens. "Well, congratulations, here's your chance. I'm not sending my people into this mess, as a rule Leprechauns don't have shock troop builds. We're not stepping in when there's no pillage before the burning starts, and Titania doesn't look like she's in the mood to do this properly."
"You're joking around at a time like this?" Sakuya said in disbelief.
"That, or I panic and lead my elite artificers to go nuke everything," Rufus said, breathing deeply and his fingers twitched slightly. "Tristain just proved they had a kill-switch on us all, and it looked like they almost succeeded in using it. I'm more surprised at how the rest of you can still be so calm about this."
Sakuya glanced at Alicia, and then to Mortimer. Both of them glanced back at her, thinking the same thing – that it really hadn't quite sunk in for them yet, what Tristain's actions meant.
"I'll have some teams on standby," Mortimer said tonelessly. "And I'm getting Eugene to teleport here to Arrun, if we're really doing this. Someone that's in charge in the field needs to be calm. Sakuya, you better get some of your people ready as well, to act as a brake for the Salamanders if nothing else."
"… Fine," Sakuya conceded. Whether she agreed or not, it looked like there would be forces gathered regardless. "Though don't you dare send them out if Kirito does manage to solve this peacefully first."
"Bloodlessly, you mean," Mortimer disagreed. "I think 'Peace' as you mean it has just became impossible for us all – there's no way our two sides will ever fully trust each other after this, even if we still get a Treaty ironed out."
-][-
Kirito glanced at Duke Valliere – among the Tristainians, he seemed to be the least affected by Sasaki's news. Whether that was due to a lifetime's dissembling as a noble, or something else, Kirito wouldn't have a clue.
"So what do you choose, Louise Valliere?" Kirito turned his gaze at the petite pink-haired girl, who refused to cower from it. "… If you wish to attend alone and let everyone else leave unharmed, I can allow that."
"If Louise is going, then so am I," Duke Valliere declared. "Colonel Gramont can go report back on what happened."
The colonel nodded tightly at that arrangement. The rest of the mage-knights around them nervously peered at the faeries around them, and wisely kept silent.
"… I'll go," Louise said through parched lips. "Do I have guarantee of safe passage, and that the Princess will not be harmed?"
"All of the traditional rights of hospitality apply," Kirito confirmed. "Do no harm to anyone allowed by Titania into the World Tree, nor take any action which would be considered untoward for a guest, and you will be safe. Unless this was a malicious act you planned from the start, then there's no guarantees."
"I didn't!" Louise said in an outburst. "I swear, I didn't expect this to happen!"
Kirito nodded, composing messages to send to Titania and the Faction Leaders. "I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, at least. Same towards Princess Henrietta. If she really didn't plan this, we'll leave her alone. Titania doesn't like wasting resources hitting the wrong place, if nothing else."
The platform began to move slowly, upwards and towards a gap in the gigantic tree trunk that opened for them to dock at.
"Let's go, then."
===
Titania being separated from Asuna is both good and bad here; Bad, because as a unemotional AI she couldn't roll for 'Will Save' against Void's intrusion, whereas if Asuna was around she could attempt to resist that. Good, because even after failing the 'Will Save' Titania doesn't count as 'alive' enough for the binding to work. ZnT canon doesn't allow binding Alviss and golems as familiars, and the same logic applies to Titania.
How Darkness magic is portrayed in this chapter is not supported by SAO canon. The LNs didn't addresses how they worked in depth.
Second, I'm ditching all the romance stuff between Kirito and others, it's been a distraction and I can't quite get it to work. It doesn't impact the plot in the long term anyway, so no big loss. Originally I included it because I wanted some kind of closure Kirito's 'harem' never had in the source material, but my skills for writing romance isn't good enough. This chapter would have been resolving the issue between Asuna and other girls, but I can't get it to work. Hence we jump to the next step in the plot (finally, more ZnT side of things, kinda).
Finally, save any flaming until AFTER reading the chapter, please; don't jump to conclusions just yet as you read, despite how 'grim dark'/'it got worse' it might seem to you as this chapter progresses. Constructive criticism are welcome, I know this one could use some more work.
===
Chapter 33
-][-
Louise stoically approached the ritual site the faeries set up, riding upon a borrowed griffon from the Mage-knights behind its master. A platform made of the same wood as the World Tree hovered high in the air, placed half way around the gigantic trunk that it blocked the sight from the closest Fae Capital. Due to Undercurrent's attack at the Treaty from below, Fairy Queen Titania decreed the location to be set up where they could see enemies coming from all directions, and built the site accordingly.
Dark-clad figures floated around the platform and stood upon it, their only commonality being the shade of their clothing; the faeries present were garbed in robes, armour, and everything in between. Staves, swords, ritualistic daggers and so on, their equipment were just as diverse. Without exception however, the weapons all conveyed how deadly they could be used against their enemies.
That fact was steadfastly ignored by Louise as she landed and dismounted onto the platform – she was not a scared little girl, and Founder take her before she would show weakness in front of the heretics. Beside her Duke Valliere and Colonel Gramont landed, Louise's chaperones for the trip; although Louise still wished for Viscount Wardes to have replaced Guiche's uncle. The older Gramont was also a Square Class mage, true, but a Wind Mage would fit here better than an Earth Mage. The fact that Wardes, her fiancée, was someone that comforted her went without saying.
A basic circle with a five-pointed star drawn into the ground. Five plain-robed figures stood at the points of the star, and the ones in armour stood well back from them. To the side was Kirito – Lord Kirito, Louise reminded herself – in his formal armour, along with several other faeries. Two of them had additional half-cloaks to denote their station.
"Lady Morgiana of the Spriggans, and Lady Sasaki of the Imps," Kirito introduced the accompanying persons to them. "Morgiana will be in charge of the security for the Binding, and Sasaki would be in charge of the ritual itself. Rituals are the specialty of the Imps among the nine races of Alfheim, so Miss Louise is in good hands."
Louise was sure she wasn't the only one that caught the stiffness in his tone. From all she had heard the Royal Protector was dead against this particular venture, and was only overruled by his Queen's direct orders. The enmity of all of Alfheim's second most powerful faerie – or technically the most powerful, if it was believed that Titania was more of a Greater Spirit than Fae – wouldn't be a light burden to shoulder. However, whether it was because Kirito had resigned himself to follow orders, or because of something else, Louise felt that Kirito's ire was not as extreme as it should be towards an enemy of his liege. Certainly nowhere near as far as what she would feel against anyone that dared to strike out against Princess Henrietta.
[Are all the preparations are set on your part, Louise Valliere?] A woman's curt voice came out of Kirito's glowing medallion, sounding like she was there with Louise in person.
"Wait, Titania," Kirito forestalled her – though Louise was stunned at the unceremonious way he addressed the Fairy Queen. "Before that, is there anything Tristain would like to say?"
"Nothing we haven't already said," Duke Valliere replied. "… although I have one more, personal, thing to add."
Kirito gauged the Duke's expression, before answering:
"Is this about the safety of Louise?" He asked. "Something about if we fail to save her if things go wrong, it would be unacceptable?"
[If so, then consider your worries noted,] Titania's voice replied neutrally. [Although we make no promises for her safety – Tristain should know by this point this is not a risk free venture. For either side.]
Louise's father clenched his teeth imperceptibly.
"It's only natural for a father to be worried about his daughter," Kirito interceded diplomatically. "Even when things might be beyond their control. I assure you however, Your Grace, we will do what we can to help Louise. For our own self-interest if nothing else, as our way back likely hinges on her continued health."
That last sentence was directed to his medallion as it was to the Duke. Duke Valliere nodded tightly, and then asked Louise to step into the circle.
Louise did so, taking slow, deep breaths to calm herself down. Surrounded on all sides by the faeries, casting a spell that she didn't even know would work. Still – even with all these things, her heart pounded less than she did summoning in front of her class, in what felt like ages ago.
It was finally time to prove to Zerbst and everyone else that she was not a failure.
-][-
Titania powered down all of the administrator consoles, and all functions of the World Tree that was not crucial to its continued operation. The only thing left active were the two console cards embedded inside Titania's host body that was used as foci for her tasks, and the connection to Kirito's Medallion that kept an eye on the situation, just in case things go wrong. Even if the binding on the modified World Tree Guardian failed, there would be nothing for the botched binding to latch onto. All the programs in its 'software' that could connect it back to World Tree had been erased completely.
Seated in front of the consoles, Titania closed her eyes.
-][-
Morgiana leaned against her spear, as introductions and explanations went on tersely. The Faction Leaders showing up was partially to establish their identity to the Tristainians, so the locals know who to look to if something related to their area of control happened. The other part was to play up the fiction that the Leaders held equal position to Titania and had right to participate in nearly all matters the 'Fairy Queen' was involved in. The Spriggan Leader internally grimaced at the need for these posturing; a 'necessary evil' as her second-in-command would call it, but that didn't make the show much more bearable.
The same didn't apply to the Imp contingent of the meeting. Sasaki brought her elite <<Dark Magic>> users; the ritual site Titania created for the familiar binding was right up their alley. Given enough time and MP, a group of top-tier Dark mages could accomplish nearly anything in Alfheim Online through their rituals, similar to how Leprechauns could imbue almost any effect into their creations if given enough Yurudo and the right materials. While Sasaki and her subordinates wasn't the ones that built the location, it was similar enough to their ritual sites for them to operate it. If things were to go wrong, Sasaki and others could activate a <<Dispel>> field and hopefully cancel out the binding spell, without lethal options being used.
As the Imp mages focus on that, Morgiana was to make sure the Imps won't be interrupted. Though it wasn't like Kirito strictly needed her and her Black Hawks to be present to deal with intruders – they were more 'search and destroy' experts, not bodyguards, and World Tree Guardians in their thousands were literally a stone's throw away.
A large figure appeared out of nowhere in mid-air, wings flaring in order to remain airborne. In contrast to the other World Tree Guardians Morgiana has seen, the new one was bulkier; heavy plate armour adorned every inch of the golem, with ornate patterning upon every surface. A tower shield, similarly decorated, was held easily in one hand and a longsword was sheathed in one side.
[This was one of the experimental models for the World Tree Guardians,] Titania's voice came through Kirito's Medallion. [Built to the specification of protecting specific charges, it would throw itself against any attack that attempts to harm them. Its armour is enough to safely repel any attack lower than that of a Square class mage. As a protector for a mage, there are not many others that would fit as well as this unit.]
[If we take how the familiar reflects the mage include the personality, such as a dog denotes loyalty and a hawk suggests pride, then this Guardian would suffice. Its personality have been programmed similarly to Louise's; All accounts suggest Louise Valliere is straightforward and loyal to the Crown – this Guardian would serve her as she would to Princess Henrietta.]
The construct knelt down, head bowed low so Louise could reach it. Steeling herself, Louise kissed the giant golem – and for several moments nothing seemed to happen.
Any hope of things unfolding without complications was shattered, however, when every faerie in attendance was driven to their knees.
-][-
The meeting between the Tristainians and the Faerie Lords convened once more after Undercurrent's interruption. Things were moving swiftly as matters were checked off one after another, as both sides aimed to get at least a preliminary document down before that day ended.
Without warning, Lord Mortimer clutched his heart and gasped – a reaction soon repeated by the rest of the Lords, and their aides not long after. Henrietta barely had time to shout for healers and pulled out her own wand to help, before the Faerie Lords and the rest of their followers vanished with a flash and a loud 'Boom'.
Henrietta's heart sank; it would be wishful to an absurd degree if this was in no way connected to Louise. This was around the time Louise was planned to bind a familiar…
-][-
After days of unceasing attacks on the other party, the 'Spirit' of the Void was interrupted by a action on his side:
Attempt to establish connection to target.
The Spirit's metaphorical eyebrows rose. A familiar binding attempt? A minuscule fraction of a second later the Spirit understood it was an attempt from Tristain's Heir of Void – and on a target he hadn't expected.
Connection failed: Primary Condition 'Fate' absent. Alternate Primary Condition 'Love' absent-
He could use the development. In light of the elves Seals on Shaitan's Gate limiting his connection to Halkeginia, the Spirit needed any edge that appeared before him. The Spirit of the Void withdrew all efforts invested in subverting the World Tree, and repurposed those processing power into a different function.
Secondary conditions (Protection, Usefulness, Similarity) insufficient without presence of Primary Condition. Conclusion: Connection Faile-
No.
There was no way the Spirit of the Void was going to let the chance go; he wouldn't even have enough range to reach Halkeginia soon.
Activate 'Record'.
Found: psychometric connection from target to target's Creator. Establishing Sympathetic Link.
Sympathetic Link Established. Pursue Link back to its Source.
Select New Target.
'To kill a snake, the best method is to cut off its head'; that idiom stayed true, even after 6,000 years. The choice between taking control of Alfheim from the top down or from the bottom up was no choice at all.
Subsume the Monarch. Everyone, everything else, could follow afterwards.
-][-
A connection was forcibly opened up from the construct, and the administrator consoles was rebooted without Titania's input. Without bothering to take the milliseconds to curse the development, the AI plunged herself into combating the malicious attack.
In seconds she was overwhelmed; the coding was warped to allow the foreign attack passage, the fortress of data crumbled under the onslaught like a sand castle faced with high tide. Titania's mechanical body was locked down, and her own code was invaded as easily as the rest of Yggdrasil's software defenses. The revival mechanism, surveillance protocols on Jotunheim, the myriads of unfinished experiments… no part of Yggdrasil escaped the scan.
Scan Complete, Titania found the foreign program conclude, at a speed almost as fast as she could process data. Primary Objective failed. New Target designated 'Titania' does not qualify for Binding – Target does not qualify as Alive. New Instruction required.
Back-up plan, a 'voice' commanded. Convert-
Total control by the outside force lasted for a grand total of 1.35 seconds, before it was completely eradicated. Titania gasped, as her body was finally freed, when she felt a different, and vast, awareness impressing into her mind:
<<Cardinal>>was functioning once more, and in its full capacity it cast out the trespasser as simply as an ogre would backhand a pixie away. Titania heard an angered scream lingering in her mind, before it was cut off abruptly.
-][-
The Spirit of the Void snarled, feeling a migraine beginning to build up – in spite of the fact it no longer have the physical body to get such an affliction. He was cast out of the World Tree, and much of the information he gleamed in the process was bludgeoned out of his memories with the unrestrained counterattack; and due to the meddling elves' sealing, Shaitan's Gate could no longer bring its full might against the World Tree. If the Gate could, the Spirit was sure he could have held his own against the attack.
The Spirit's counterpart sent another jab, establishing a connection – he wanted a parlay, from an established position of power at that point. He agreed regardless.
Moments later the Spirit and his opponent appeared in a featureless white room, with no decoration whatsoever. The other Spirit was a non-descript man dressed in a plain white coat, as bland as the room created for this meeting; in stark contrast, the Spirit garbed himself in the finery he possessed during his time as King in life.
"I am Kayaba Akihiko," the other Spirit said neutrally. "Do you have a name, trespasser?"
"Brimir," the Spirit of the Void boomed. "And it is you who trespasses in my domain, twisting the Void into a caricature of the Firstborns and wielding it against me and mine."
"Do you really have the processing power left for cheap theatrics?" Kayaba said, unimpressed. "Well, no matter. I'm just here to tell you the facts:
"Your control over the World Tree is broken, and you're not sophisticated enough to leave any tricks behind I cannot find – not that you had the time to do anything. Your power is weakening by the minute, and you fell past the point of being a threat hours ago. The next time you attack me, I will stop restricting myself to defending and retaliate. If you value your continued existence, stay away from Alfheim from now on."
"Hah!" Brimir snorted. "If you are truly that much more powerful, you wouldn't have threatened me with my demise – you'd just have done it.
"Here is my counter-offer; at the source of all this is Louise Valliere's summoning, and I want your so-called 'Alfheim' to provide the perfect familiar for her. Do that, and I will allow you a quick death when I am released."
"And if I refuse?" Kayaba asked, a tinge of curiosity entering his tone.
"As things are now, I still have control over the links to my Heirs. If you refuse, I will implode all of the magical power within Louise Valliere, and wipe out the city at the base of the World Tree," Brimir proclaimed. "The Void, my legitimate Void and not your mockery of it, eats through whatever defenses that can be conjured up. The resulting Explosion is even enough to carve out the trunk of the World Tree and cause your bastion to be toppled. Louise Valliere is ultimately expendable, if it means I can damage your creation to this extent – another candidate can host her potential afterwards."
"To use your own argument against you, if you can do so you would have 'already done it'," Kayaba said dryly. "If this is not a bluff, you have an ulterior motive in asking for a familiar. Tell me what it is, and I may compromise and arrange Louise to obtain a familiar."
"… Fine," Brimir spat. "The resulting Void Familiar would be passable as an Avatar for my presence. While I will be largely diminished that way, I would be able to act directly without resorting to proxies. And if you would deny me this, I will end a large number of your heretical dependents in Arrun using Louise Valliere."
"The 'faeries' are immortal," Kayaba mused. "And the World Tree can be rebuilt. It'll be a huge portion used up of our reserves, but we could tank this."
"The Void can be called the antithesis of Spirits and their kin," Brimir retorted. "Yours would not be the first or even the first hundredth Spirit that was destroyed by the mere touch of Void. Do you wish to risk your dependents so?
"Alternatively, the core of your faeries' revival process lies at the base of the World Tree – which is within range of the resulting Explosion. Can your faeries still be revived if the core is destroyed at the same time as they are?"
Kayaba frowned. "Well, that's inconvenient," the man in white coat muttered. "The preference for player accessibility versus safety came back to bite us this time, it seems.
"Very well," Kayaba nodded. "I will arrange for Louise Valliere to receive a familiar."
Brimir grinned fiercely at that response.
-][-
"Urgh…" Kirito groaned as he regained his footing. "What happened… Is everyone alright?"
Morgiana grunted, using her spear to prop herself back up. Sasaki nodded mutely as she rose, and other Imps returned to their positions. Seconds later the Spriggan guards flew back up within sight, after they fell as their heart attacks made them fell momentarily.
"What just happened?" Duke Valliere asked urgently, glancing between the faeries and Louise. "And is the Binding…?"
The golem showed no signs of change, no magical runes inscribing themselves upon it. Louise's face was ashen, but otherwise appeared to be unaffected.
"Titania?" Kirito asked, looking down at his Medallion – which the light had dulled. "Titania, are you there?"
"Well, shit," Morgiana scowled, her expression tight as the GM's voice failed to respond. "Did we just crash the system?"
Most of the faeries present looked at Louise accusingly, causing the pink-haired girl to flinch. Both sides looked like they wanted to reach for their implements and start to fight their way out. Thankfully, someone managed to break the tension as his eyes caught sight of something:
"Is the World Tree… blooming?" Narcisse said uncertainly, craning his head upwards and squinting. Sparkling patches began to occur in the branches high above them, growing until all of the lower branches was covered. What came next however soon dismissed that notion, even as those patches fell off like sakura blossom petals in a heavy breeze.
"Those aren't flowers," one of Sasaki's mages gulped nervously. "Those are <<Tracers>>."
The tens of thousands of falling 'petals' unfurled their wings, revealing themselves to be butterflies made of bright energy. They swarmed down around the ritual site, giving a sphere around everyone a wide berth but nonetheless blocking off their exits from all directions.
"Those are a type of spells that destroy all kinds of concealment magic, correct?" Duke Valliere asked cautiously, trying to keep his hand away from his sheathed wand in case it sparked violence. "Why are they here?"
"I'm guessing it's to make sure you guys can't run or hide," Morgiana said, her mouth going dry as she considered what the development meant. "Kirito, is Titania saying anything about this?"
A screen had finally opened up in front of Kirito, and the Royal Protector looked even paler than he was before. His hand shook as he used it to scroll down to read the complete message.
"Titania sends her… 'invitation'… to Louise Valliere and her chaperones for a face-to-face meeting," Kirito said uneasily. "To discuss what had happened during the Binding attempt."
"Am I to take it refusal is not an option?" Duke Valliere said warily. With all the Tracers swirling around them, there was no way for anyone to leave without being tracked.
"Titania insists on her attendance," Kirito stated, all nervousness gone and replaced by a flat voice as he reached the end of the message. "I would prefer not turning this into a bigger diplomatic incident if possible; her orders was to take all of you in by force if we have to, on the charge of attempting to enslave her specifically during the Binding – and that of the faeries of Alfheim when we had our heart attacks just now."
Louise felt like her world grinded to a halt, upon hearing the accusation she had personally attacked the Fairy Queen. The small pink-haired girl struggled not to hyperventilate; it was no wonder there was so much tracking magic being deployed, that much at least was expected for something that serious. It was unbelievable that Kirito had offered them the chance to come quietly.
"Kirito," Sasaki said quietly, looking at a message sent to her. "Did Titania tell you what she ordered the Faction Leaders to do? In case you fail to take them in?"
"No, she didn't," Kirito said through gritted teeth. "But I'm sure I won't like the answer."
Sasaki told them Titania's orders – and truly, nobody liked it.
-][-
[Louise Valliere's binding have breached all defenses of the World Tree, culminating in an attempt to hack the administrator consoles and subjugate me as her familiar. That attempt was unsuccessful. I have ordered Kirito and others on-site to bring her in for questioning, using any means necessary. In the event that Louise Valliee evades capture – or Kirito allowing her to depart – I request the Faction Leaders to send combatants to capture Louise Valliere.]
[If even that contingency fail, request Princess Henrietta or Cardinal Mazarin to clarify their involvement on this matter. I leave it to you all as to how 'delicate' you wish to carry out this task.]
"Well, damn," Mortimer said as he read through the commands. The Faction Leaders had been sent back to the World Tree, into their regular meeting room. The aides have been sent elsewhere, and a different message informed them that similarly everyone that wasn't at a Capital was teleported to one for their safety. "This is not good."
"You think?" Sakuya seethed as she looked at her own screen, following along; understandably so, the heart attack and ensuing disorientation from the emergency teleport did not treat her well.
[If Tristain knowingly allowed the binding to happen knowing how it would affect the World Tree as an outcome, consider Louise Valiere's action as their declaration of War. Secure the Academy's library and capture the academics in order to aid finding a way back to Earth. Crush any resistance, though anyone that is both a non-combatant and useless to research are allowed to depart unharmed. Do not waste effort capturing hostages. If the Princess and the Cardinal wishes to escape to their Capital then let them do so, better to let them lead a counterattack than let someone who is more competent take that role.]
[Should the players of Alfheim be unwilling to take part in any of the above, or the Tristainians manage to thwart your efforts, I will step in to accomplish these tasks instead as I see fit. I will not promise that they will be lenient in their actions when compared to players' previous judgment.]
Rufus typed furiously at his screen, making instructions to his Faction.
"Are you seriously going to follow those orders, Rufus?" Alicia grimaced.
"Hardly," the Leprechaun Leader snorted. "I'm just making back-up plans. By the way, I just sent Titania a message asking for the Leprechauns and Gnomes to be held in reserve, in case what Tristain just pulled is the first step for their counterattack on our Capitals."
"You're making the rest of us handle the dirty work?" Mortimer asked coolly, and Sakuya nodded at his sentiments.
"You're the one who said that you out of all of us had the right to want vengeance on Tristain," Rufus said distractedly, still operating on his screens. "Well, congratulations, here's your chance. I'm not sending my people into this mess, as a rule Leprechauns don't have shock troop builds. We're not stepping in when there's no pillage before the burning starts, and Titania doesn't look like she's in the mood to do this properly."
"You're joking around at a time like this?" Sakuya said in disbelief.
"That, or I panic and lead my elite artificers to go nuke everything," Rufus said, breathing deeply and his fingers twitched slightly. "Tristain just proved they had a kill-switch on us all, and it looked like they almost succeeded in using it. I'm more surprised at how the rest of you can still be so calm about this."
Sakuya glanced at Alicia, and then to Mortimer. Both of them glanced back at her, thinking the same thing – that it really hadn't quite sunk in for them yet, what Tristain's actions meant.
"I'll have some teams on standby," Mortimer said tonelessly. "And I'm getting Eugene to teleport here to Arrun, if we're really doing this. Someone that's in charge in the field needs to be calm. Sakuya, you better get some of your people ready as well, to act as a brake for the Salamanders if nothing else."
"… Fine," Sakuya conceded. Whether she agreed or not, it looked like there would be forces gathered regardless. "Though don't you dare send them out if Kirito does manage to solve this peacefully first."
"Bloodlessly, you mean," Mortimer disagreed. "I think 'Peace' as you mean it has just became impossible for us all – there's no way our two sides will ever fully trust each other after this, even if we still get a Treaty ironed out."
-][-
Kirito glanced at Duke Valliere – among the Tristainians, he seemed to be the least affected by Sasaki's news. Whether that was due to a lifetime's dissembling as a noble, or something else, Kirito wouldn't have a clue.
"So what do you choose, Louise Valliere?" Kirito turned his gaze at the petite pink-haired girl, who refused to cower from it. "… If you wish to attend alone and let everyone else leave unharmed, I can allow that."
"If Louise is going, then so am I," Duke Valliere declared. "Colonel Gramont can go report back on what happened."
The colonel nodded tightly at that arrangement. The rest of the mage-knights around them nervously peered at the faeries around them, and wisely kept silent.
"… I'll go," Louise said through parched lips. "Do I have guarantee of safe passage, and that the Princess will not be harmed?"
"All of the traditional rights of hospitality apply," Kirito confirmed. "Do no harm to anyone allowed by Titania into the World Tree, nor take any action which would be considered untoward for a guest, and you will be safe. Unless this was a malicious act you planned from the start, then there's no guarantees."
"I didn't!" Louise said in an outburst. "I swear, I didn't expect this to happen!"
Kirito nodded, composing messages to send to Titania and the Faction Leaders. "I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, at least. Same towards Princess Henrietta. If she really didn't plan this, we'll leave her alone. Titania doesn't like wasting resources hitting the wrong place, if nothing else."
The platform began to move slowly, upwards and towards a gap in the gigantic tree trunk that opened for them to dock at.
"Let's go, then."
===
Titania being separated from Asuna is both good and bad here; Bad, because as a unemotional AI she couldn't roll for 'Will Save' against Void's intrusion, whereas if Asuna was around she could attempt to resist that. Good, because even after failing the 'Will Save' Titania doesn't count as 'alive' enough for the binding to work. ZnT canon doesn't allow binding Alviss and golems as familiars, and the same logic applies to Titania.
How Darkness magic is portrayed in this chapter is not supported by SAO canon. The LNs didn't addresses how they worked in depth.
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