Hello there! I’m Davigron. Working in this translation was a tough but rewarding experience. As a chemistry student, Silica is my favorite character, so I volunteered to translate this side story about her first days in the death game. Very very thanks to Celest for all his patience and his valuable advice, I enjoyed so much working with him. Hope you enjoy this side story as much as I did. This is my first translation so, any feedback is appreciated. —Davigron
Well, I did promise a few years ago to complete those two bonuses… And here they are. Correcting Davigron’s first translation made me understand how Gsimenas felt back in 2022, when he corrected my own translation for Lisbeth’s edition… I wish I could say the pupil had surpassed the master, but IG I still have a long way to go! —Celest
Reminder: The translation of Lisbeth edition is available on Dreadful Decoding’s website.
Note: Argo’s Cats doesn’t associate with any video using of this translated script alongside the audio of the drama.
• Translation: Davigron
• Translation-check, additional editing, raws: Celest
[4th week’s visitor bonus]
Kawahara Reki’s newly written audio drama script – Silica edition
Good things and bad things come one after another.
I don’t remember whether I read this proverb in a book, or if someone told it to me; but I‘d repeat that sentence in my head every time something good or bad would happen to me. On days I scored perfect marks during school tests, I made sure not to lose my belonging. And whenever I got hurt, I told myself, “surely something good is going to happen soon”.
So I wasn’t surprised either when an astonishing stroke of luck shone upon me last month. I received an email stating that I won a NerveGear in an online giveaway to which I entered on a whim. At first, I thought this was a scam, so I doubled-checked the email over and over again.
When I finally convinced myself that it was the real deal, I jumped out of joy. Following that event, I went straight ahead and bought a copy of Sword Art Online with the money I had saved from New year, then excitedly dove into this virtual world I had given up hope of ever reaching before.
However, as I expected, my jinx was not going to miss a chance to go against me.
Good things and bad things come one after another. When we were forcibly teleported to the plaza, and they told us that we couldn’t leave this world, the first words that crossed my mind weren’t ‘no way’, but ‘as expected’. I foolishly cried thinking my bad luck had doomed almost ten thousand players inside this deadly game, even though I knew deep down inside me that something that absurd was impossible.
Of course, from the point of view of the other players, I was a mere, helpless twelve-year-old child as I was sitting in a corner of the Teleport Gate Plaza for many days. Eventually, some random person came and told me that there was a place where other child players would take refuge.
That place was a building similar to a traditional European church. I peeked through the window and saw children just like me, all gathered around a large table eating rice. I believe some of them looked even younger. I was so hungry as well, but I couldn’t bring myself to knock on the door. My legs froze out of fear, having the same anxiety I’ve had during my time at the real-world school.
In the end, all I do is run away. I dove in ＳＡＯ so I could escape the other world, but here I am, running away from this world too.
It wasn’t like this in the past. I used to enjoy going to school and I had a lot of friends. Those good moments probably went away when I confided my dreams for the future to the person I believed was my best friend.
The following day, school was a completely different place from before. My belongings disappeared, I got constantly tripped up, over and over again, every single day… Until the day I got trapped in ＳＡＯ.
Perhaps, in a tiny corner of my heart, I was slightly happy this incident happened so that I didn’t have to go to school anymore… And that I didn’t have to face the children who used to be my friends anymore.
But at the same time, I wonder where I should go. There’s no place for me in the real world or in this world. I don’t even have the courage to jump off the edge of the city to see if what that dude named Kayaba said is true.
I began straying away from the church. As I was walking away aimlessly…
A small shadow of a creature appeared at the end of a narrow alley. It had a gray fur and a tail tensely stretched like a flag.
“Pina…?”
I instinctively called out the shadow, which looked exactly like the cat I own in the real world.
But the gray cat didn’t stop. It walked straight down the alley, as if it had somewhere to go.
I felt the urge to chase that cat desperately. Of course, there is no way that it was the real Pina, but its fluffy fur looked so warm I wanted to touch it for just for a moment.
“Pina, wait!”
I called it out as I chased it with all my might. But the cat would run when I ran and walk when I walked, and I just couldn’t catch up.
I Turned right in the alleyway, then to the left, jumped over stacked wooden boxes and passed under a fallen pillar. I crossed a water bridge, climbed up and down small staircases, continuing onward endlessly. At that point, I didn’t know what part of the town I was in.But even so, I kept on chasing it with all my willpower even if it led me to fall over countless times.
Eventually, the cat disappeared inside a half-crumbled wall covered with ivy. I trotted towards the wall and set aside the remnants of iv, only to find a small hole to which I desperately forced my body through, as I could barely fit inside.
On the other side of that wall occupies a small garden surrounded by stone walls on all sides. The stone-paved ground was more than half covered with weed, and the trees growing in each corner of the place looked completely neglected. What’s more, there was no sign of the gray cat I had chased so desperately.
“Pina, where are you…?”
I walked down to the center of the garden as I whispered its —temporary— name.
Suddenly, the paved stone below my feet made a sudden sound of clatter and collapsed. I was swallowed up down the dark hole, unable to scream. I closed my eyes and curled my body reflexively, thinking I was about to die. But then, my back hit against something hard.
That impact was rather too realistic, rendering me unable to breath. The ＨＰ bar in the upper left of my field of vision dropped drastically, falling below half. Maintaining my posture, I cautiously stood up ensuring my ＨＰ didn’t decrease any further.
That place I fell down in was a rather dusty basement. Covered in spider webs, broken bookshelves and chests lined the walls. I must have fell down outside the Safe Area since my ＨＰ decreased, but thankfully, it didn’t look like there was any monster here. …On the other side, there was no exit in sight either.
I looked up to the grossly tall ceiling, where a gray light was flowing through some gap. I definitely wouldn’t be able to reach that gap even if I climbed up, helping myself with the bookshelves lined in the wall.
When there’s something to chase, most of the time there’s a trap waiting. It’s common for games to include traps, but getting caught in a trap inside a ＶＲＭＭＯ game was considerably despairing. On top, I felt very, very heartbroken because it was the pina-looking cat that led me in this trap.
No matter how much I’d scream in here, It’s unlikely that any player would come to notice. Perhaps, I will be stuck in this basement until someone reaches the distant 100th floor and defeats the final boss.
…alright then. I don’t care anymore.
With gloom, I sat down on the gelid floor. I held my knees with my arms and deeply bowed my head.
But then, something shone glimmeringly beneath my feet.
I picked it up with my right hand, it was a very thin silver coin. The piece of silver was covered in dust, but a number could be read on the surface. A coin worth a hundred Cor… approximately three times the money I currently have. I hurriedly stood up and scanned the floor intently. A little farther away, I spotted a pile of coins. I quickly picked those up and noticed yet another one beyond that.
Beyond that, buried among the junk, was a wooden box about the size of a randoseru. Sure, the color of the box faded, but it was unmistakably a treasure chest. I lunged at it, praying it wasn’t locked, and gently lifted the lid.
It opened surprisingly with ease, revealing approximately twenty silver coins and a dagger with a red sheath inside. Just by looking at it, I could tell it was far superior to my starter equipment.
There was something else I realized. if there’s a treasure chest here, then there must be an exit somewhere.
Bad things and good things come one after another. …No, actually, there are good things AND bad things. It’s not about jinx and what-not, it’s just the way life is.
With all this money, I could buy the best armor available in the town and I’d still have some left. As for this dagger, I could try and fight outside the town. With this… I could find a place to belong here, with my own strength.
Suddenly, a meow~ reached my ears, calling from above. Looking up, I saw the very same cat I was chasing earlier, peering down at me from the edge of the hole.
“Hey, stay right there! I will be going to pat you!”
As I shouted, I put the silver coins and the dagger in my storage, then began searching for an exit.