Sword Art Online Light Novel Volume 02


 * Warmth of the Heart and Morning Dew Girl redirect here. You may be looking for Episode 7 or Episode 11.

Aincrad (アインクラッド) Part 2 is the 2nd book in the Sword Art Online Light Novel series, published on August 10, 2009.

Summary
This volume consists of four short stories that took place before and during the events of Volume 1.

Prologue
Aincrad and Sword Art Online are briefly introduced.

The Black Swordsman
After a quarrel with a party member over the distribution of healing items, Silica the Beast Tamer left the party and soon got herself lost in the «Forest of Wandering». She was later attacked by multiple Drunk Apes, resulting in the death of her Tamed Monster, a «Feathered Little Dragon» she had named Pina. After she killed the monster responsible for the death of Pina, she was rescued by Kirito who happened to be passing by. Silica and Kirito then went to a inn for the night, where they discussed their plan to retrieve the «Pneuma Flower», an item that could revive a familiar. The next day, both Silica and Kirito then journeyed together to the «Hill of Memories» on the 47th Floor. After retrieving the «Pneuma Flower», they were stopped by the orange guild Titan's Hand, led by Rosalia, the same party member Silica had an argument with. During the encounter, Kirito revealed that his intention was not only to help Silica, but also to lure out this guild and trap them at the request of one of their victims. After successfully imprisoning the orange guild, Kirito and Silica returned to the inn and revived Pina.

Warmth of the Heart
The story introduced a female blacksmith named Lisbeth who spent her days running her own smith shop in the town of Lindarth. One day, a certain «Black Swordsman» entered her shop and broke her best sword. Enraged after her best «Player Made» sword was destroyed by a Drop weapon, the former usually being superior to the latter, she formed a party with him and they went on a quest to obtain a Crystallite Ingot to forge a sword that could rival the «Elucidator». After obtaining the ingot, Lisbeth forged the «Dark Repulser» for Kirito.

Morning Dew Girl
During Kirito and Asuna's honeymoon period, Kirito suggested venturing to a site described in a rumor of a wandering ghost. There, they found an unconscious young girl named Yui, who the couple soon cherished as their own daughter. Seeking to find the child's origin, they journeyed to the 1st Floor, where they learned about the tyranny and corruption of «The Army». Along with Yulier's help, they later went on a quest to locate the founder of The Army, Thinker, who had been tricked by Kibaou, founder of the original Aincrad Liberation Squad. In the end, after eliminating the Hidden Dungeon's secret boss, Kirito and Asuna soon discovered their departing daughter's true identity as a «Mental Healthcare Counseling Program». Before her complete elimination, Kirito accessed the game's system with the hidden console unit to save Yui from the «Cardinal System».

Red-Nosed Reindeer
Christmas Eve was approaching fast and the special event boss, Nicholas The Renegade, arrived with the promise of dropping a revival item. Kirito set out to claim this item in hopes of reviving Sachi, his dead guildmate. Klein encountered the distraught and despairing Kirito and tried to talk him out of engaging Nicholas alone, but to no avail. Kirito then recollected on how he met his former guild, the «Moonlit Black Cats», how he had gotten close to Sachi, and the demise of the guild. Kirito found the place where Nicholas would appear, and noticed that he was followed by Klein and his guild, while they in turn were followed by the Divine Dragon Alliance (DDA). Klein told Kirito to take on Nicholas alone while he and his guild fought off the DDA. At the end of the battle and on the verge of death, Kirito collected the item he wanted, only to discover that it could not save Sachi. Devastated, he gave the item to Klein and returned to Myujen. After waiting until morning, when he planned to go on a suicide attack against the next Floor Boss, Kirito was alarmed by an item in his inventory. There he found a message recording crystal left behind by Sachi in their shared inventory space tab. Sachi's message told Kirito that if he was listening to the recording, it meant that she had died. She told him that she never blamed him for her death. Sachi told Kirito to survive and see the world end, and to find out why this world was created. Sachi then sang the song «Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer», while her final goodbyes gave Kirito the strength to live on.

Adaptation Notes

 * The whole part from Silica receiving Kirito's equipment to Kirito carrying Silica back to the main city area with his arms was entirely omitted in the published version.
 * There were some changes in Kirito's conversation with Silica, as Kirito was not aware that Suguha was his cousin rather than his sister in the web novel.
 * In the web version, it was clearly stated that Silica loved Kirito and wanted to be his girlfriend. However, this is not the case in the published version.
 * In the Web Novel, Lisbeth had asked to be with Kirito in his sleeping bag, claiming to be cold. Once she entered his sleeping bag (after already removing most of her clothes in the process, being left only in a camisole), she asked him to hold her as they fell asleep. The published Light Novel omitted most of this scene and instead, Lisbeth asked to hold Kirito's hand. Discussions about the Moral Code were also removed from these paragraphs.
 * "Morning Dew Girl" was originally named as "Four Days" in the web novel version.
 * "Warmth of the Heart" had the "Heart" in its title written in Katakana in the web novel version.

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Volumen 2 Sword Art Online (Ранобе, Том 2)