Sword Art Online Light Novel Volume 19

Cradle of the Moon (月の揺りかご) is an ongoing web-published side-story, set after the main events of the Alicization Arc in the web and light novel main series.

Plot
Some time after The War of the Underworld, Underworld entered a state of peace. The people of the Human Empire, the people of the Dark Territory, the Goblins, Orcs, Ogres, and Giants all signed a peace treaty and the Dark Territory and the Human Empire opened up for trade and travel. After the Rebellion of the Four Empires, the four Imperial Noble Families, together with the entire noble system, had been overthrown. The Underworld Fundamental Law was introduced and the Taboo Index revised. The Integrity Knights were becoming the largest fighting force in all of Underworld. Ronye and Tiese became Integrity Knight Apprentices, along with their dragons Tsukigake and Shimosaki. Kirito became the Representative Swordsman and de facto leader of the Human Empire Unity Council. He engrossed himself in the research and examination of his new creation, the «Mechanical Dragon». After a failed public experiment, Kirito revealed to Ronye that the Mechanical Dragon research is currently his highest priority as it's very likely for the imbalance resource distribution between Human Empire and Dark Territory to cause yet another war between Human Emperor and Dark territory, and if the invention of Mechanical Dragon is to be success, it might be able to cross the Mountain range at the Edge and give Dark Territory races real countries to live in, which their current territories in Dark Territory are just stretch of barren land.

On the 18th day of the 2nd month of the Human Empire Calendar 382, a Centoria resident was killed, with a goblin visitor suspected to be murderer. As all visitors were required to agree with a set of rule before they enter Human Empire which include a ban on murder, and the suspect's right eye still remain impact, indicate the goblin did not violate the Seal on Right Eye, Kirito and other members of the Council concluded that the goblin did not violate the rule and he had not kill the Centoria resident. With no other suspects being identified and no apparent cause that could lead to killing of that Centoria resident, Kirito and other members of the councils worried about the possibility that unidentified rebellion forces or Dark Sorceresses were behind the case to plot another great war between Human Empire and Dark Territory, Kirito decide to head to Obsidia, the Dark Territory's Capital to met with Iskahn, the leader of the Dark Territory, to reach an agreement as soon as possible.

Trivia

 * Reki states on his site, that Cradle of the Moon is designed to be a standalone Fantasy Story, which happens to have characters with the same name as those from SAO.

Navigation
Cradle of the Moon Колыбель Луны Wiege des Mondes