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

Project Alicization ----- Chapter Twenty-Three

March 378 HE, Underworld Human Realm
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"Here you go, a pillow and blankets for you and... Kirito was it?. There are more in the wardrobe in the back if you're cold. Morning prayer is at six, and breakfast is at seven. I'll come to check on you, but please do wake up on your own, and wake him up too if he's not up. There's a curfew once lights are out, so be mindful of that. Please tell Kirito this later"

I accepted both the onslaught of words and the heavy pile of wool blankets with outstretched arms.

A girl of about twelve years was standing before me as I sat on the bed. She wore a black habit with a white collar, and her silky smooth light brown borderline dark blonde hair hung long down her back. Her big, busy eyes held none of the downcast obedience she'd displayed in the presence of the sister.

Her name was Selka, and she was a sister-in-training, studying sacred arts at the church. She was also charged with watching over the other boys and girls living at the church, which was probably why she bossed me around like a big sister or mother, despite being several years my junior. It was hard to keep the grin off my face.

"Umm, is there anything else you need to know?"

"No, I think I've got it. Thanks for all the help Selka," I said. For a brief moment, Selka's expression softened, and then it was back to fussy business as usual.

"Good night, then. Do you know how to put out the lamp?"

"...Yeah. Good night, Selka."

She nodded briskly and spun to leave the room, the hem of her slightly-too-large habit swaying. She shortly stooped.

"Goodnight Shi..."

Once her quiet footsteps trailed away, I let out a long sigh.

They had put me in a little-used room on the second floor of the church. The room was about a hundred odd square feet, with two cast-iron beds, matching desk and chairs, a small bookshelf, and a wardrobe next to it. I moved the blankets and pillow off my knees and onto the bed, then put my hands behind my head and rolled back onto the sheets. The flame in the lamp overhead briefly sizzled.

"What the hell..."

Is going on? I replayed all the events that had transpired between entering the village and now.

The first thing Eugeo had done was head for the guard station right next to the gate. There was another youngster in there named Zink, who glanced at me suspiciously at first but accepted Eugeo's story that Kazuto, or Kirito as I introduced him, and I were two "lost children of Vecta" with almost laughable ease and granted me entry to the village.

The entire time Eugeo was giving the story, my eyes were locked onto the simple sword hanging from Zink's belt, so the specific words all went in one ear and out the other. I desperately wanted to borrow the aged sword to see if my skills-technically, the virtual swordsman Shi's skills-would still function here, but I valiantly resisted that urge.

After leaving the station, we walked down the village's main street, attracting a slightly unnerving amount of attention. Several villagers asked who I was, and Eugeo stopped to explain each time, so it took us nearly thirty minutes to get to the small village square at the center of Rulid. One old lady carrying a large basket got teary-eyed when she saw me. "You poor thing!" she exclaimed, and pulled an apple (or something close to one) out of the basket for me. I felt a bit guilty about that.

By the time we got to the church standing on the small hill overlooking the village, the sun was almost entirely gone. Sister Azalia, a nun whose picture ought to be in the dictionary under the word stern, answered Eugeo's knock on the door. She looked so much like Miss Minchin from A Little Princess that I was certain our plan would end in disaster. But at odds with her appearance, Sister Azalia welcomed me in almost instantly and offered me dinner to boot.