Sword Art Online 13: Alicization Dividing Part 3

"I see... We're equals with this now, then."

Taking caution with my words, I moved my mouth.

"And so, I do have a proposal... as things stand, we have to return back into the tower at any cost. So, wouldn't you consider a truce for the time being?"

"...A truce?"

I could sense a really suspicious look directed at me from her face, slightly inclined towards me.

29.

Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Alice.

"Yes. It's no longer possible to break the cathedral's outer wall and it's no easy task to climb it either. Our survival rate should increase if the two of us work together, rather than going through it alone. Of course, things would be different if you have a convenient method to return inside."

Alice chewed on her lips in chagrin but immediately replied in a murmur.

"...I would had used it already if I had such a method."

"That's true. So, can I consider you agreeable to the truce and cooperation?"

"Before that... you mentioned cooperation, but what exactly does that refer to?"

"Helping out each other if the other seems to be falling, just that. We could hold on better if we had a rope or something, but I suppose that's asking for too much."

Not looking at me any longer, the integrity knight sank into another long silence, but eventually nodded slightly in a nearly imperceptible motion.

"It is a reasonable proposal... I have to admit. There's no helping it..."

As a replacement, Alice continued while giving me one final glare.

30.

Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Alice.

"I will cut you the instant we return into the tower. Be certain not to forget that one point."

"...I'l keep that in mind."

Nodding once more to my reply, Alice cleared her throat as though to shift her thoughts.

"Wel then... you required a rope? Are you not holding on to any unnecessary cloth?"

"Cloth..."

I looked down at my body, but thinking about it, I didn't even have a single handkerchief in my pockets. I could have taken out piles of spare clothes or mantles from my storage if this was the Alfheim I dearly missed, unfortunately, that convenient function didn't exist in the Underworld.

"...Even if you ask, there's nothing more than this shirt and these trousers. I'll strip if I need to, though."

When I shrugged only my left shoulder as I replied, Alice made her most profound grimace yet and shouted.

"We will not stoop to that! ...Goodness, it's shocking how you thought to go into battle with merely a sword on you."

"Hey, hey, the one who rounded up Eugeo and me from the Sword Mastery Academy with only the clothes on our back was you, wasn't it?"

31.

Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Alice.

"And you broke into the cathedral's armory after that, haven't you. There should have been bundles of high quality rope over...

aah, that's it, this is a waste of time."

Alice flicked her head away with a hmph and raised her right arm clad in a golden gauntlet. But she apparently realized she couldn't take her left hand off her sword's grip there, as she scowled. Jerking her arm in front of me, she ordered.

"Unfasten my gauntlet with your free hand."

"Hah?"

"And pay extra attention to not touch my skin. Hurry up!"

According to Eugeo's recollections, Alice was apparently a cheerful and energetic girl, more gentle than anyone else, when she lived in Rulid. If that was the case, where exactly did her current personality that seemed the polar opposite sprout out from?

While thinking about such things, I brought up my left hand that finally regained its sense of touch, then unfastened the gauntlet's clasp. Alice, who made me hold onto the gauntlet, quickly pulled out her right hand and brandished her pale, slender fingers while shouting out.

"System call! "

32.

Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Alice.

Following the opening phrase for sacred arts, she rapidly chanted an unfamiliar, complex art. The gauntlet in my hand let out a dazzling light and its shape began to change at a noticeable rate. Within mere seconds, my left hand held a neatly bundled golden chain.

"Uooh... trans.m.u.tation...?"

"Were you not listening? Or perhaps those aren't ears on the side of your face, but holes infested with insects? That was merely transformation of its form, arts capable of changing the properties of its material cannot be used by anyone aside from the esteemed highest minister."

Upon apologizing with a "sorry" to Alice, who apparently had no intention to change her sharp tongue even after consenting to the cease-fire agreement, I tested the chain's toughness. My teeth felt like they were going to fall out when I held its end in my mouth and pul ed, so I relaxed my mouth in a fl.u.s.ter. I had no qualms, since it seemed to be tough enough despite being thinner than a little finger and even had st.u.r.dy-looking clasps at both ends to boot.

Firmly fastening one end to my belt, I offered the other end and Alice took it with a tug and kept it into her sword belt's metal fittings. The length of the dangling chain was about five meters. For the time being, we should be more or less safe even if our hands slip, unless we both fal .

33.

Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Alice.

"Now then..."

Scanning the surrounding again, I confirmed the situation we were in.

Judging from the direction of the sun, we were dangling on the Central Cathedral's west wal . The sky overhead was in the midst of turning from blue to violet with the sun coming from behind dying the tower's white wal a bright orange. Guess the current time was around three in the afternoon.

Hesitantly gazing downwards towards my feet, I could see pale, hovering clouds pa.s.sing by, the miniature-like garden, the stone walls encompa.s.sing that, and even the streets of Central Centoria split into four by the "immortal walls", making me ascertain just how ridiculously tall the cathedral was once again.

Each floor of the tower should be around six meters, inclusive of the floor's thickness, so the eightieth floor, "Cloudtop Garden", where I fought with Alice would be at a relative height of four hundred and eighty meters-no, adding on fiftieth floor, "Grand Cloister of Spiritual Light", with its abnormally high ceiling, about five hundred meters, huh. Our Lives would definitely vanish in an instant if we fall. In addition, this body would turn into fine dirt without even leaving a corpse behind, probably. The wind was calm now, but I didn't know how long that would last.

34.

Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Alice.

My back shuddered before I gripped my sword again with my right hand and wiped the sweat running over my left palm on my trousers.

"Ermm... just checking, but..."

Alice, also peeking at her feet beside me, raised her face when I called out. It might just be my imagination how her complexion seemed worse than earlier, but her tone was curt as always.

"What?"

"No, well... I thought a grand knight like yourself, capable of using advanced sacred arts like changing the form of objects would know some art for flight... or not, huh, sorry."

Despite my prompt apology at her sharply raising eyebrows, Alice berated me without mercy.

"Just what did you learn in the academy? Even the youngest ascetic apprentice would know that the only person capable of flight arts in the vast Human World is the esteemed highest minister!"