Sword Art Online: The Administrator's Descent

Chapter 15: An Unlikely Lesson

WARNING: This story contains mature elements such as manipulation, Non-Con, humiliation.

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Underworld, Centoria —16th September, Year 380 in the Time of the Realm of Humanity

The trip back to the Cathedral was long, but Quinella was just glad that she was able to take the carriage back, or else she would have been far more exhausted by now.

Thankfully, someone back in the village had been willing to drive her home, and she took the offer immediately, though she hoped that he wouldn't mind the second trip back.

She had him sent her just as far as the outskirts of Centoria, and so she would walk back to the Cathedral from there. Her walk back home shouldn't be too much, and as she stared at how the tower just seemed to dwarf her and every other building around her, she agreed with Kirito; it was kind of intimidating, to be honest.

'Still, it would be useless to simply leave it as it is and not use it,' she sighed. 'Generations of people have spent their resources to build this, so I may as well honour their work by properly making use of it.'

Of course, this tower had so many other things; different floors were necessary for a myriad of things, such as the great bath, a prison, a rose garden, a field for dragons to land, and a number of other things. Although it was still kind of tiring to move up and down the tower sometimes...

"Hmm... Perhaps there's a «Sacred Art» for teleportation," she thought to herself. "It would at least save some time for... Hmm?"

Now that's a surprise. Sitting on a bench at one of the plazas here in Centoria on her lonesome was Cardinal herself, who seemed to be reading some sort of book while several people just walked here and there.

It was an odd sight, really. She thought that Cardinal was busy with being the headmaster of the academy in North Centoria, and she might have other duties to do. So to see her out like this... well, she doubted she could call her out on that. She did technically go to visit Rulid Village.

Curious, the woman walked up to her from the front, having the decency to at least allow herself to be seen without scaring her. When she was at least a foot away, she merely glanced down on the contents of the book before sitting down beside her, sighing.

The only noise there was to fill the silence between the two was the usual bustling of people here and there, the sounds of shouting of the shopkeepers to attract any patrons, the gushing of the fountain behind her and pigeons fluttering about.

Thankfully, the silence didn't last for very long. "What are you here for, Quinella?"

"Hmph. It would be nice if you could at least greet me nicely, you know," scoffed the older-looking woman as she crossed her arms. "And here I am, trying to at least be civil with you."

"I would have assumed that you said that in jest if you had your sword against my neck, yet here you are, with all the decency of a normal human being it's almost impressive," the shorter girl, though just as important as the other one was, certainly knew what buttons to press, a tic mark forming on the silverette's head. She promptly closes her book, simply staring forwards. "I heard that you visited Rulid Village. I pray you didn't cause any problems?"

Offended, the woman shot her a glare. "As if! I would have you know that I behaved myself. And I'd prefer if you didn't treat me like some sort of child."

"Yet you act like one," her tone now is no longer meant to aggravate, but rather, it's just pure curiosity. "You're different, Administrator. You—"