Sword Art Online Light Novel Volume 08


 * Not to be confused with Murder in the Safe Zone (Episode 5).

Early and Late (アーリー・アンド・レイト) is the 8th book in the Sword Art Online Light Novel series, published on August 10, 2011.

Summary
Sword Art Online Light Novel Volume 08 is a collection of three side stories:
 * A Murder Case in the Area
 * Calibur
 * First Day

Part 1
On April 22, 2024, Kirito, overwhelmed by the unusually favorable weather settings that day, decided to take a short nap in the fields within the main town of the 59th Floor. Upon awakening, Kirito noticed that the vice commander of the Knights of the Blood was sleeping beside him. Sensing that she was exhausted due to her duties, the solo player decided to guard her while she slept to protect her from being killed in her sleep. When Asuna finally roused from her rest several hours later, she managed to suppress her embarrassment over her realization of the situation and offered to treat the Black Swordsman to a meal as thanks for his action.

After the two entered a restaurant in Marten on the 57th Floor and ordered their food, Asuna repeated her thanks to Kirito. While the two discussed how their meals could be improved with the addition of some ingredients, they suddenly heard a terrified scream from outside. The duo rushed to the source of the scream in the town square, where they found a player hanging from a window of the second floor of a church, with a barbed spear impaled into his chest. Before anyone could help him, his avatar disintegrated. Convinced that the player was killed in a duel, Kirito and Asuna quickly searched for a duel winner notice but to no avail.

At the church, while examining the rope to which the recently deceased player had been fastened, Asuna theorized how the player killer could have executed his opponent and set it so that everyone could see the spectacle. However, Kirito reminded her there had been no winner notice for a duel, despite duels being the only known method for reducing a player's hit points within a town. Knowing disaster and panic would result if there was a method to kill players within a safe zone, the two agreed to investigate the matter together.

Part 2
Back at the plaza, Kirito and Asuna found that the first person to witness the incident was a woman named Yolko. According to her, the victim was Kains, one of her former guildmates with whom she had dinner just before the incident. However, she claimed to be unaware of the murderer's identity or motives.

Having escorted Yolko to a nearby inn, Kirito and Asuna decided to examine the rope and spear used in the incident for any leads to the killer. As neither of them had a sufficient Appraisal skill and Asuna's blacksmith friend who had the skill would be occupied with business at the time, Kirito elected to contact Agil for his help.

The two travelled to Agil's Shop in Algade on the 50th Floor. Although the shopkeeper complained about Kirito's impromptu message, he quickly changed tone when the sub-leader repeated their request for his assistance. After being informed about the incident, Agil inspected the rope with his Appraisal skill, revealing it to be a mere store-bought item. However, he was able to determine that the spear, named Guilty Thorn, was crafted by Grimlock, a player he had no knowledge of.

Part 3
Having teleported to the Town of Beginnings, Agil, Asuna, and Kirito travelled to the Black Iron Palace in order to investigate the Monument of Life. There, they confirmed that Grimlock was still alive, while a player named Kains had indeed died that day. After returning to the Teleport Gate plaza, Asuna and Kirito agreed to resume their search for Grimlock the next day, while Agil returned to work, leaving the investigation to them.

Upon teleporting to Lindarth, the town he was residing for the time being, Kirito was surrounded by several members of the Divine Dragons Alliance. Schmitt, the leader of the group, interrogated the solo player on his knowledge of Kains's death, refusing to answer any of Kirito's own questions on his concern over the incident, then ordered him to give him the Guilty Thorn. Resignedly acquiescing to Schmitt's demand, Kirito informed the lancer of the spear's name and maker, which shocked Schmitt. Carefully retrieving the weapon and storing it in his inventory, the lancer enjoined the Black Swordsman to not probe into the matter any further, then exited through the Teleport Gate with his fellow members following him.

Part 4
The next morning at 09:00 on April 23, Kirito and Asuna met at the 57th Floor's Teleport Plaza and moved to a cafe, where they discussed Schmitt's actions from the previous day. They doubted he was the culprit but agreed he likely had a connection with Grimlock and Kains that was related to the former's death. While Kirito was briefly distracted by the fancy outfit Asuna was wearing, the latter pondered on the specific details of piercing weapon damage on a player during transition from the field into a safe zone. As they still had almost an hour before they met with Yolko, the Black Swordsman decided to perform an experiment based on the vice commander's line of thought.

Traveling to the field just outside Marten's gate, Kirito prepared to stab himself in the left hand with a Throwing Pick. Concerned at the possibility of anything happening in the field, the fencer ordered him to form a party with her and readied a healing crystal for use. Accepting her request, the swordsman launched the piercing throwing weapon into his hand with a Sword Skill, then watched the piercing damage over time effect activate before retreating into the safe zone. Though the pick still remained in his hand, the safe haven nullified any further damage from the weapon to his health.

At 10:00, Kirito and Asuna met with Yolko, who was temporarily distracted when she realized the vice commander's clothes had been created by the master seamstress Ashley. After relocating to the restaurant from the previous day, the Black Swordsman and the Flash disclosed to Yolko their verification of Kains' death and inquired her of any association between him, Grimlock, and Schmitt. Yolko divulged they all had once belonged to the same guild, the Golden Apple, then consented to explain the story behind the guild's dissolution.

About six months prior, the Golden Apple had been hunting in a sub-dungeon on the middle floors when they acquired an agility-boosting ring from a rare lizard monster. Divided on what to do with the drop, the eight guild members eventually voted to sell the ring and split the profits. As the item was too valuable to be sold on the middle floors, their guild leader journeyed to the frontlines to sell it at an auction. When she failed to return on schedule and none of them could find or reach her, the Golden Apple members went to the Monument of Life to learn she had been killed by piercing damage the night she arrived on the higher floors, likely via a sleep PK. As whoever killed the guild leader had to have known of the ring, the remaining guild members suspected each other of being the killer; with no way to determine each individual's activities at that time, the guild quickly collapsed.

After recounting her tale, Yolko revealed she, Kains, and Schmitt were the only three Golden Apple members who voted to keep the Ring of Agility; the latter two because they wanted to use the item for themselves, and herself because she had just become Kains' girlfriend, though they terminated their relationship at the end of the guild. She added that Grimlock was the guild sub-leader and husband of the guild leader; after her death, the other Golden Apple members lost contact with the blacksmith. When asked on the possibility of Grimlock being responsible for Kains' murder, Yolko admitted it to be not impossible and expressed her fear that he would target her and Scmitt as well.

After accompanying Yolko to her inn and securing her stay for several days, Asuna became irate when Kirito finally complemented her on her outfit. When she had finished changing back into her Knights of the Blood uniform, she decided that searching for Grimlock would be too difficult with just the two of them, and it would be impossible to validate Yolko's story with the former Golden Apple members if their information contradicted with hers. Therefore, they decided to more thoroughly examine Kains' death. As they wondered where to find a trustworthy player who was more knowledgeable than them of Sword Art Online's system mechanics, Kirito suddenly thought of such a person.

Part 5
Thirty minutes after Asuna messaged him for his help, Heathcliff met with Kirito and Asuna in Algade and allowed himself to be guided by the former to a restaurant deep within the mazelike city. While they waited for their lunch, the commander of the Knights of the Blood listened to Asuna's explanation of what had transpired since the previous day, then began scrutinizing Kirito's theories of how the safe haven murder could have occurred.

Part 6
The next day, Asuna and Kirito paid Schmitt a visit; he was willing to assist them as long as he was able to talk to Yolko again. Yolko was suddenly murdered during the conversation and Kirito attempted to capture a hooded man on the roof.

Part 7
Schmitt gave Kirito a list of names of the members who were part of the «Golden Apple» guild.

Part 9
Schmitt felt guilty for being an accomplice in the death of the guild leader and decided to visit her grave only to find Yolko and Caynz still alive.

Part 10
Kirito explained that Caynz and Kains were similar names when spoken and that Yolko had lied to both him and Asuna.

Part 11
Three members from the killing guild «Laughing Coffin» showed up at the deceased guild leader's grave and attempted to kill Schmitt, Yolko, and Caynz. Kirito stepped in to save the day.

Part 12
Asuna caught Grimlock, the spouse of Griselda, hiding in the bushes. He admitted to being the mastermind behind the death of his wife, but explained that he did not have her murdered to steal the ring. Instead, he did it because he did want her personality to change from what it had been originally in the real world. After Schmitt, Yolko, and Caynz left with Grimlock to settle matters with him, what seemed to be Griselda's ghost appeared to Kirito and Asuna to thank them for uncovering the truth behind her death, and the two promised to her that they would clear the game.

Part 1
The quest to retrieve «Excalibur» from the base of Jötunheimr was revealed to the public. However, unlike how Kirigaya Kazuto (Kirito) and Suguha (Leafa) expected, it was not a quest to clear the Inverted Ice Pyramid, but another quest to slaughter all beast-type Evil Gods and the sword had yet to be obtained. After Kazuto and Suguha called Yuuki Asuna, Asada Shino (Sinon), Tsuboi Ryoutarou (Klein), Ayano Keiko (Silica) and Rika (Lisbeth) to form a party of seven to attempt raiding the ice pyramid again, they gathered at Lisbeth's shop in Yggdrasil City to prepare and then came to Jötunheimr via a secret passage that Kirito and Leafa had found nearly a year before.

Part 2
There, they called Tonky to transport them to the dungeon, but the creature instead took them downwards, until they were able to clearly see what was happening on the ground, where they saw players cooperating with the humanoid-type Evil Gods to wipe out the beast-type Evil Gods. At that moment, an Non-Player Character calling herself «The Queen of the Lake», Urðr appeared. She told them of a once beautiful Jötunheimr where the roots of the World Tree touched the floor and the endless void in the center of the land was filled with water of the purest quality. The Frost Giants had used the «Holy Sword Excalibur» to cut off the roots of the great tree and this resulted in Jötunheimr turning into a frozen wasteland. After telling that the quest to slaughter the beast-type gods would result in the humanoid-type Evil Gods to invading Alfheim and would reward a «Fake Sword Caliburn», instead of the real Holy Sword Excalibur, Urðr requested the fairies to enter the inverted ice pyramid dungeon, called Thrymheim, and retrieve the real sword from a plinth to return Jötunheimr to its former state before the beast-type gods were all slaughtered.

Part 3
The party then entered the upside-down pyramid to clear its four floors and obtain Excalibur.

Part 4
Along the way, at the end of the third floor, they encountered Freyja, a captured beauty, and rescued her. During the battle with the final boss, Giant King Thrym, Freyja transformed into the God Thor after retrieving his weapon Mjölnir, the lightning hammer.

Part 5
After defeating Thrym, the group headed into a narrow staircase and found «Excalibur». After much effort, Kirito pulled the blade out while the fortress began to collapse. While falling, Tonky saved the group but to Kirito's dismay, «Excalibur» was lost. Suddenly, Sinon sent a Retrieve Arrow towards the blade and made Kirito swear that he would think of her every time he used the sword before giving it to him. They were then met by Urðr and her sisters Verðandi and Skuld to receive the reward for completing the request.

Part 6
The group was rewarded with treasure, including Excaliber, who then decided to log out and have celebrate their success at Agil's cafe.

First Day
After the Sword Art Online death game began, Kirito rushed to the village of Horunka to get a head start on the quest which would reward him the «Anneal Blade» which was strong enough to last him for the first three floors. During his quest, Kirito found another beta tester like him. Coper, who proposed that they try to complete the quest together to obtain the quest reward. However, once Kirito acquired the item needed to complete the quest, Coper purposely activated a trap which released a horde of monsters, in a bid to claim the quest item for himself. Kirito realized that Coper was trying to kill him. After a tough fight, he managed to escape but Coper died. This heavily affected Kirito as he realized he could die in this game. Kirito returned and completed the quest, but stayed at the house of the quest giver and watched her tend to her daughter, which tearfully prompted him to remember Suguha.

Error

 * This book claimed that Kirito formed a party with Asuna for the first time during the murder in the Area incident. However, this was retconned in the Progressive series where they had first formed a party over a year before the murder incident.

Trivia

 * There is a non-canon ending of the Calibur side-story, called Calibur SS.

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