S.A.O Project Alicization - OC/Male Reader Insert

Project Alicization ----- Chapter Twenty-Two

March 378 HE, Underworld Human Realm
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"We've already done that many?"

"Yep. I did five hundred; you did five hundred. My Calling is to strike the Gigas Cedar two thousand times a day, over the morning and afternoon."

"Two thousand..."

I stared at the large crevice cut into the massive black tree. It didn't look like any damage had been done to it at all since we'd started. What a thankless job.

Meanwhile, Eugeo said happily, "You've got talent for this, Shi. There were two or three good hits in that last set of fifty. And it made my job a whole lot easier today."

"I dunno...if you were doing it all yourself, you'd have been done sooner. I feel bad; I was hoping to help out, but I only held you back," I apologized, but Eugeo just laughed it off.

"I told you, I can't cut down this tree for as long as I live. And after all, it will regrow half of the depth that we carve out over the course of the night...Oh hey, I've got something to show you. You're not really supposed to look at it, though."

He approached the tree and held up his left hand, making the usual sign with his two fingers, then tapped the black bark.

I raced over to get a closer look, realizing that the tree itself must have a durability rating. The status-pardon me, Stacia Window-appeared with a chime, and we peered in at it.

"Ugh," I groaned. The number on the window was vast: over 232,000.

"Hmm. That's only about fifty lower than what it said when I checked last month," Eugeo noted, similarly disappointed. "So you see, Shi...I could swing this ax for an entire year, and it would only reduce the life of the Gigas Cedar by about six hundred. I'll be lucky if the total is under 200,000 by the time I retire. Do you get it now? A little bit less progress over half a day doesn't make the least bit of difference. This isn't any ordinary tree; it's the giant god of cedars."

Suddenly, something clicked, and I understood the source of the name. It was a mix of Latin and English. The split wasn't after Giga, it was Gigas-there were two S sounds in a row. Gigas Cedar, the giant cedar.

Meaning that this boy spoke Japanese as his mother language, while English and other languages were treated as the "sacred tongue," like spells. If that was the case, he probably didn't even recognize that he was speaking Japanese. It was Underworldian. Or...Norlangarthian? But wait, when he talked about the bread, he had used the word pan, the Japanese word for it. But pan didn't originate from English...Wasn't it from Portuguese? Spanish?

My mind tumbled through a cavalcade of distractions, while Eugeo tidied up the things he'd brought.

"Thanks for waiting, Shi. Let's go to the village."

I picked up the still sleeping Kirito and sighed.

"Is he seriously still asleep Shi?"

"Yeah, I told you he doesn't wake up unless forced up"

"Oh, are remembering something?"

"No, I didn't forget some things like my name and that"

As we walked to his village, Dragonbone Ax slung over his shoulder and empty waterskin hanging from his hand, Eugeo cheerfully told me about a variety of topics. His predecessor was an old man named Garitta, who was apparently quite a master woodcutter. The other children his age thought Eugeo's Calling was an easy one, an opinion he resented. I muttered and grunted to show that I was listening throughout his stories, but my mind was racing as it considered just one topic.