Log Horizon Book 3 chapter 3

Edited version

http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Log_Horizon


Why would you donate for a translation of a translation? That is just weird. send through paypal to skythewood@gmail.com if you insist.


Replace Saijo with Mogami.

Replace Itsuzu with Isuzu.

Replace Yanton's Lord Sigil with Baron Yanton (book 3 chapter 1)


Name: Shoryu
Level: 90
Race: Wolf Fang
Class: Swashbuckler
HP: 10408
MP: 8943

Rai Sou Fuu Ga (Thunder-Claw Wind-Fang)
- Straight swords usable only by Swashbucklers. It is actually two different items, but many users equip both due to the set bonus. Critical rate and damage is increased if used by Wolf Fang Tribe.
Leather Armor of Heroism
- Production-class armor with emphasis on physical defense. In exchange, it has low resistance to special skills as well as various elemental attacks. Although it requires Wyvern leather obtained from a quest, the difficulty of the quest is not that high so it is easily obtainable.
Necklace of the Milk Wolf
- A necklace of Imperial Jade. Has a conspicuously large gem in the center, engraved on it is figure of a legendary female wolf that is said to have provided milk to a baby abandoned on a field. Gives bonus to food-type healing items to all party members.

Chapter 3: Negotiation in the ancient court


1

(Ha, seems like this is the nest of the wily foxes.)

Michitaka take the glass with a smile as it complains in his heart. This is the 'Ancient palace of eternal frost', but not the zone reserved for the round table council, this is the zone Marquis Dalute is residing in.

As Shiroe predicted, the 'League of Freedom Cities Eastal' meeting is progressing slowly.

From the news they received, meetings will be held in the afternoon occasionally. But in the 4 days since Michitaka arrived at the 'Ancient palace of eternal frost', there has yet to be a single meeting.

The event last for 10 days, so there is no need to rush. That is the opinion of one of the nobles, but on the contrary, there are a lot of turbulence in the under table negotiations.

The proof is the numerous invitation the round table council has received. Shiroe, Crusty and Michitaka attends the discussion together in the beginning, but they have to split up in order to process all the invites.

They came up with a basic policy beforehand, and uses a weapon not available to the people of the land...telepathy. These two factors have been of great assistance.

They will be helpful tonight as well.

Marquis Dalute from the fortress city Mogami's banquet.

'League of Freedom Cities Eastal' young knights evening party.

Tsukuba's Marquis Chilliwar and it's university dinner party.

The 3 invitation clashes.

If they only attend one, there will be negative effects on the power balance between the nobles. In order to be impartial to all the lords, they also thought of declining them all. But collecting intelligence and building relationships take priority, so they decides to divide and conquer.

Since it is an evening party with young knights, there should be musical performance or dances. Because of this, Shiroe was nominated to attend it. But Tsukuba's Marquis Chilliwar's dinner party with have scholars attending, which will be a heavy burden on Crusty and Michitaka.

So Crusty will be going to the young knights and princesses' party... which is the gathering of future leaders. says with a mischievous smile:"It must be so much fun to dance", seems like he is still holding a grudge from before.

Crescent moon alliance's Henrietta was also worried about the dancing part, but Crusty replies calmly:"I found highly durable shield recently, I just need some technique to use it to protect me, allowing me to not dance without appearing obtrusive, so there is no problem."

Michitaka do not know what Crusty is talking about, so he just shrug and leave it to him. Michitaka can't do much to help anyway.

With two of the events decided, only he is left to attend Marquis Dalute's banquet.


"Here, I brought my best beef from my territory, please enjoy the feast tonight!"

Marquis Dalute receives Michitaka with these words. You can say he is simple, but being a bit more mean, you can describe him as an old fashioned middle aged man. His clothes are clean and made from high quality materials, but it has no designs or accessories on it, making him look plain.

Michitaka is a section chief salary man in the real world, but he is the guild master of the largest production guild Oceanic Systems in Akiba, leading 2500 members. The members see him as a sensible brother, but that alone is not enough to operate this massive guild. He is not dense enough to not see through the Marquis's intent.

Despite that, Michitaka still greet him warmly, accepting Marquis Dalute's offer and take a seat. Around the extravagant feast table are the Marquis' family.

His wife is very young, a slightly plump beauty, maybe his 2nd wife. The elder son about the age of the last couple of grades in elementary school, seems like a strong youth. There is also a young daughter.


"The food has changed dramatically in the past 2 months, I have brought along my top chefs with high motivation to this meeting."

The banquet starts after Marquis Dalute's opening speech. The fortress city Mogami... Territory of Marquis Dalute, is situated in the north east of this region. According to the map created by Shiroe, it is in Yamagata Prefecture.

The city have about 8000 people, according to lord Lancedasia, it is a comfortable and safe city. Reviewing the data collated earlier, there are ten odd villages under Marquis Dalute's governance.

The feast consist of extravagant middle ages European style dishes.

Michitaka do not know the details, but from his experience, a meal such as french cuisines will serve their food in small portion to the table. But in this alternate world, the nobles seems to be accustomed to large portions of food.

Beef steaks roasted with lots of spices are served, and Dalute cut them to fine portions himself.

"This meat are reputed to be top class in my territory, how does it taste."

"Yes, this is delicious!"

Michitaka praise the meal between bites.

This is indeed top class, compared to beef in the real world, this meat is tougher and brings a sense of wilderness with it and it's original taste is very rich.

Marquis Dalute focus on introducing the tastiness of this dish.

(So that's how it is...)

In this alternate world, cuisines are a critical part of the political world, the change 2 months ago revolutionized the world.

All the other lords made preparations similar to Marquis Dalute, bringing their top chef and ingredients to attend the meeting. This meeting is an opportunity that appeared suddenly. Small and weak territories might be able to gain immense wealth if they discover any popular ingredients or dishes. The stronger nobles will seek higher quality food to solidify their influence and fame.

The 'League of Freedom Cities Eastal' meeting is a place where you compare your social standings, but food has now taken center stage, becoming crucial to a city's economy with it's trade around the region.

"My city is surrounded by hills and the lands are full of slopes. Lumber, mining and livestock trade thrives here. For our feast tonight, we will also be serving pork that we are proud of."

Looking at the anticipation of the elder son, he can tell this will be a wonderful dish.

Michitaka enjoys the food while listening to Marquis Dalute's words.

The Marquis' wife joins in the conversation occasionally, chatting about the weather, geography, culture of the north east part of the archipelago. For the Marquis, this is preparation for business talks and a display of the features of his territory. For Michitaka, this is valuable intelligence.

The north east region of the archipelago is full of mountain ranges, with forest spread all over the place. The hilly region is full of nature, holding inexhaustible amount of forest resources. The rainfall is abundant, with many lakes and beautiful rivers flowing in the region.

There are few flat lands, most of them near the coast or in the mountain valley.

These even plains are primarily used for wheat or rice.

From the north east to the north of Kanto, these whole region is the central zone of the 'League of Freedom Cities Eastal'. The biggest problem with this zone lies with the rampage of monsters.

The kind hearted humans are one of the races players in Elder Tale are able to choose. According to Shiroe and Rodrick's calculation, the population here is roughly 1% of real Japan. But the population is not equivalent to  the number of intelligent beings, such as demihumans like goblins or molemen. Their intelligence is not at the level of the kind hearted humans, but they have strong bodies and high reproduction abilities. Most importantly, they are cruel and evil.

The evil demihumans in the world build empires and rule over regions, pillaging day and night in an attempt to rule the world.

The main monster forces in the north east archipelago are goblins. goblins are short demihumans, about 150cm in height. They are skinny, ugly and twisted short humanoid monsters. They have a simple tribal society, living together taking on different jobs.

Most of them belongs to roaming and pillaging tribes, but some of the tribes might settle in one location. The north eastern tribes trend towards staying in one place, and even build gigantic communities, population can tens of thousand.

Similar to other demihumans, goblins have hybrids of low social status from cross breeding. One such hybreed are the big goblins, which are more violent than goblins, but maniacally loyal. They are armed with armor and weapons, willing to fight to the death for their tribesman.

There are also high class goblin shaman who can summon the spirits of their ancestors, commanding undead monsters and spirits. Goblin tamers will breed creatures like Owlbear, Hippogryph and dire wolves.


Goblins individually are weaker than mid level adventurers, but have a variety of abilities, they are a force to be reckon with.

The zones demihuman lives in differs from those ruled by humans. In this case, it should be described as the land humans are fighting to protect from them. In the north east, the demihumans live in the deep mountains and the dense forest.

"But, the situation is changing...yes, because of the revolution."

Marquis Dalute continues.

"Firstly, the food has been affected greatly by the revolution. As you can tell, the citizens in my territory has been completely charmed by the new dishes, there is nothing I can do about that."

The Marquis says seriously. His wife cut in with a bitter smile.

"You are also engrossed in the goat cheese salad and smoked bacon. You are putting it like the citizens are the only lazybum desiring good good, that is despicable."

The lady smile mischievously, Michitaka nods and replies.

"Yes, great good can make the days seem better, it is a wonderful thing."

"Cough cough, anyway, there seems to be such a thing too...After the revolution, our citizens are also motivated, production rate has improved. Rice takes a long time to harvest, so there is no significant change there, but vegetable and livestock has major developments. Put simply, in order to eat delicious food, the farmers are more careful in breeding and harvesting, and are careful to avoid wastage in deliveries."

Michitaka nod to acknowledge, thinking this is a good summary.


"The demand for good ingredients spurs the entrepreneur minds of the people, and they focus on producing delicious ingredients for a good price, allowing them to get other ingredients... a cycle like this."

Michitaka is from a production guild, so he understands perfectly and nods.

"And because of this...there are some problems in delivery.

Michitaka thinks about it.

This is obvious. Their land consist mainly of hills, and is not suitable for some types of grains. There also many ingredients that can only be planted in the south. Michitaka also have a hard time getting sugar which is exclusively produced in the south.

Sugar is the native product of 'Naintier sovereign' After the apocalypse, because of the low supply level, it's price is increasing without restraint.

This wasn't like this before.

The food in the past all taste the same, so the quality of the ingredient will not have any effect on the final product... In other words, sugar is akin to medical supply.

(No, that is not a meal, just a nutrition ration.)

But it is different now, delicious ingredients, fresh products, there is an increase in demand for different food. In this pure and simple alternate world, they are basically using the produce from their own land.

Delivery requires time and resources, delivering fresh produce takes even more effort. But things like seasoning, tobacco, alcohol or tea, there is a need to import it from far. To fund the import of these goods, the fastest way is through export.

And the biggest barrier to this is monsters.

When you think of that, you can understand the feeling of noble who want to request for mercenaries from the round table council.

"To sum this up, this is not simply a request from Mogami."

Marquis Dalute shrugs.

"But I heard that raiding just one hill will require a few hundred soldiers. To exterminate the goblins from the north east archipelago, you would need an astronomical number. Just depending on Akiba's forces would not be enough. It's a shame, even if it is just guarding the city, our numbers are not able to maintain a full day watch indefinitely."

Michitaka replies.

Security for the whole region is beyond their scope of consideration, the population of this world is not enough to secure all the zones. And it is because of this dangerous world, that the human community are sparse like the bubbles in an ocean, they can only live in peaceful zones centered around cities.

On the other hand, there is a hint in Michitaka's statement.

Before the Marquis can propose 'deal with the other territories later, please send soldiers to me first', he has subtlety warned him, displaying an attitude of 'if we are sending help, we need to be fair to all the zones, if we can't do that we won't send help blindly.'

The banquet is moving on to desserts.

Uncertain if this is a local flavor or if it is a result of 2 months of research, the sweet pancakes has a taste of nostalgia. As Michitaka complement this simple desert with black rose tea, Marquis Dalute says seriously.

"No, there is no need to destroy the monsters, I am asking for something else..providing access to sea delivery."

Michitaka was dumbstruck.

Ferrying by sea, that is the providing them with the steam powered ship.

Marquis Dalute's proposal allows you to bypass the monsters without spending resources to defeat them, and makes import and exports smoother.


2



The atmosphere inside the tent is heavy.

In fact, it is suffocating.

Isuzu turns in her sleeping bag.

They just had dinner, and the campfire is still visible from through the tent's canvas, the time should be 9pm? According to the real world, it is not sleeping time yet, but there is nothing to do in this vast nature even if you stay up.

Even though there is nothing to do, she is still tired and listless, but she can't sleep even if she lies down.

She got into her sleeping bag with many things on her mind.

There are people in the time using magical lights, or taking care of their equipment.

"Woo..."

Isuzu looks toward the light.

Minori who always working hard, Tohya is in a bag like Isuzu. Serara is lying in a corner of the tent, Rundelhaus is sitting on his bag with his arms crossed, looking displeased.

Everyone has a heavy air about them.

This cannot be helped, since their raid ended miserably.

The battle of Isuzu's group evolved into a free for all, attracting skeleton monsters as reinforcement and becomes a battle of attrition.

In this chaotic formation, it not only hurts the groups HP, it also drains a lot of MP, their reserved skills and their focus. They can manage with their HP full in the beginning, but if it drags too long they will need to rely on healing spells.

But even healing spells are limited by MP, and that is also gone as the battle goes on.

...Because you did not heal properly that I have to suffer such grave injuries! Rundelhaus complains, but from what Isuzu sees, Serara and Minori has been giving their all.

Isuzu do not know how healing works, but seeing the exhausted Serara and the troubled Minori, she can tell they held nothing back.

Isuzu is one of the beginners rescued from Hamelin, her class is bard.

She has been close to Minori since their times in Hamelin.

You can say she took good care of her.

Minori, a middle school girl 3 years her junior is a very capable girl.

Isuzu has great respect to this young girl who has lower level and experience than her. Minori kept using the term 'the knowledge Mr Shiroe shared with me' is one of the reason for, but the main reason she respects her is for courage, foresight and intelligence.

(Because I am clumsy... I have to keep relying on Minori...)

Isuzu thought as she sulk in her sleeping bag, recalling all her experiences. She feels that she is useless in this situation.

She joined the band in high school, her interest is instruments, the contrabass in particular.

She is tall but skinny like an athlete with hormones disorder during puberty (Her stamina is not good too), and she think her face is not ugly just plain, still a long way from being beautiful.

Freckles is her biggest concern, her hair is thick too. Even tying them into braids doesn't keep them in place, which makes her depressed.

She have a number of friends, and was not bullied. But she is just a normal mass produced bumpkin high school girl you can find anywhere.

She started playing on the spur of the moment, because her brother who loves the piano said:"I have extra passes, want to try playing it?", so she tried it.

It was interesting in the beginning, and you can choose the class bard which is related to music, which made her happy. Even so, she was not really into it. If someone ask her if she will carry on playing if they charge her money, she will properly not.

Isuzu was then involved in the Apocalypse and was trapped in the evil guild Hamelin.

She felt lost in the beginning, her head filled with confused thoughts, and slowly she fell into a deep... yes, deep sense of despair.

Isuzu was in absolute despair, her hopes was crushed, she give up fighting, hates god and the world. She became an empty shell with her repeated sense of hate, and think of nothing but feeding herself every day.

Ah, this must be how the children in poverty nation lived, she complained with a miserable feeling. Even if she resist maniacally, deep in her heart she still accept this. She can hear her heart saying in a tired voice. This is how the story ends for side characters.

Isuzu has been defeated by the Apocalypse.

Minori treated the other beginners well even under these conditions.

Something like knowledge can be shared, but hogging it has its uses. By hogging it, you can save yourself in critical moments.

Despite that, Minori chats with the other beginners in the room every day, sharing what she knew about the game.

Her brother Tohya was also the same in a sense.

The fact that both of them is in middle school shocked Isuzu.

They are strong in a way that can only be described as special. Isuzu feels that without Minori, she will fall into deeper depravity in Hamelin, and she won't be able to regain her cheerful character.

On the other hand, Serara is about her age.

After Isuzu was saved form Hamelin, the first person to give her hot soup and bread was Serara. The conditions in Hamelin was very bad, even if it is wrong to say this herself, she was probably very smelly when she was rescued.

But Serara hug Isuzu and says:"Don't worry, you are safe now."

The guild hall was like a refugee camp that day, the beginners were all crying badly, Serara tells them:"I am also a beginner, my level is about the same as you."

"I was also also targeted by human traffickers in Susukino, but I was saved and is living normally in the guild now."

Serara's words must have saved many of them.

In crescent moon alliance, Serara is one of the members who take good care of the beginners. Isuzu felt close to her as they are about the same age. They are now best friends in crescent moon guild, spending almost every day together.

Because of the above reasons, Isuzu sees Minori and Serara as trustworthy acquaintance. Actually, they are already friends, but she has an inexplicable feeling that she need their permission before that happens, or she will feel bad about this declaration. Because of this feeling, Isuzu address them as acquaintances, but think of them as friends in her heart.

So they could not have been sloppy in their healing duties, Isuzu knows them well.

So, what is the reason behind the miserable state they were in? Whose fault is it?

This question confound Isuzu.

The free for all battle lasted about 30 minutes.

After making it through this fight where it won't be strange if any of them died, their party is in a miserable state. They have used up all their MP and their high cool down skills. If they are detected and have to fight again, they will definitely be wiped out.

The party rush back to the entrance in a hurry, but they were attacked by the skeletons that respawned on their way back, and have to fight a miserable retreating battle...

(Today was really bad...)

A total lost.

Isuzu's party first dungeon challenge, set a record of 1 hour before retreating.

(It is not Tohya's fault.)

Isuzu don't know Tohya as well as Minori, but they are acquaintance.

Isuzu sees him as a good cheerful kid, was this a result of Tohya not doing his job or playing around? If someone ask Isuzu, she will answer no.

In their short raid, Tohya did charged in by himself and seems to have make a mistake in doing so. But if you analyze the case, you will feel that 'it might be a mistake, but Tohya has his reasons, you cannot blame him based solely on that'.

Isuzu also thought of other reasons.

For instance, she only knew Rundelhaus through this training camp. His character and strength is an unknown to the party.

Rundelhaus is lofty when he talks, has a snobbish attitude, his proud and boastful demeanor is a pain. Even if he is handsome like a prince, judging by Isuzu's standard, he is a frivolous man.

Is Rundelhaus the reason for today's defeat? If someone ask her, she can only give a big question mark.

Rundelhaus' overconfidence and carelessness made the situation worse, but similar to Tohya, he action is based on his considerations in order to achieve victory.

Most importantly, Rundelhaus loves his class and works hard to display his strengths, there is no doubt about that, since Rundelhaus has narcissistic tendencies. He considers destroying the enemy to be a virtue, there is no way he went easy on them.

(He is not a bad guy...)

Isuzu thinks it is true.

Isuzu peek at Rundelhaus from this position. Rundelhaus is pouting and crossed his arm over his chest, which feels like a monk training under the waterfall.

He looks totally Caucasian, so he is very prominent, but his attitude is very serious.

(He must be doing an after action review by himself...)

...Isuzu think he might be self-reproaching. Rundelhaus always say whatever comes to mind, and have been blaming the others for the today's adventure. But he is also strict with himself and seems to be deeply remorseful.

(Hai...)

If it is like this, doesn't mean that no one is at fault?

(No no no, hold on for a moment, this is not right.)

Yes, there is one person she did not consider, that is Isuzu herself. Unable to deny the fact that she might be the reason for the party's crisis.

(I am not good at this...)

No matter how you dice it, Isuzu is a beginner in this game, and have no martial arts background. She never thought of survival in the wilderness in the real world, so she should be bad at fighting.

But it has been 2 months.

Isuzu knows she have been through many battles in this world, maybe she would never be used to fighting no matter what, is it going to be this exhausting forever? And Isuzu is different from Tohya, she is a rear guard support class, not meant to tank direct attacks form the enemy.

But as she review the day, Isuzu feels that there are many areas that feels wrong for today's adventure. Her wrong refers to 'on hind sight, this is not the best course of action'.

Why didn't they know it will end up like this? Reviewing the day, she felt she made many mistakes.

Bards have a variety of support, the most important being the permanent status buff song.

This is a music that bards emit subconsciously from their body.

The permanent buff that is effective for the whole party will go on forever as long as the bard wills it. By using permanent status buff song at the beginning of the adventure, they won't need to do anything else for it to continue its effect. It is a skill players want to use whenever possible.

The problem with permanent status buff song is that you can only use 2 at any one time. High level bards will learn up to 15 songs, but Isuzu at this stage has only learned 10.

Choosing 2 out of this 10 songs is a bothersome choice all bards will face, and will continue to have even if they reach the level cap.

Isuzu chose 'Harmony carol' and 'Speedy sword etude'.

The former grants additional attack for every successful attack attacks, the latter is a support song that raise weapon attack speed. They are both basic support songs bards commonly use.

But the battle failed because of that.

'Harmony carol' can increase the damage from magical attacks, but it attract more attention to Rundelhaus, something she did not expect.

And the number of enemy is more than expected, causing the battle to turn into a free for all.

At that point of time, Isuzu decides to change the support song even though she is in the middle of a battle. Changing support song requires a long casting time, which is best performed when not in battles. She also hesitated and wasted a lot of time before deciding that maintaining the current situation will result in them being wiped out, and changed the support song.

'Harmony carol' changed to 'Meditation nocturne'

'Speedy sword etude' changed to 'Dancing peacock melody'

'Meditation nocturne' is a support song that recovers MP even if you are in battle. In Elder Tale, you will recover MP slowly as long as you are not in battle. It will recover speedily if you rest. But you cannot recover MP if you are in battle.

'Meditation nocturne' is a support song that allows party members to recover MP even in battle, but it is much slower then the recovery rate of resting.

'Dancing peacock melody' raises the agility of all party members, a support song that helps them evade enemy attacks.

Since there are reinforcement, the battle will be long. No, it has already been a draggy fight before Isuzu decided to change her songs. She changed the support song once she determined it is going to take quite a while.

That's all she can do then, she still don't think she was wrong now.

But from the results, this judgement call did not improve the battle situation.

Evade rate increases, the drain of MP drops, the support song is supporting the party as intended, recovering their MP.

But this also meant that 'Harmony carol' and 'Speedy sword etude' which increases damage is no longer in effect.

With lower damage, it takes more time to defeat one enemy. Being slow in taking down the enemy also mean the battle is going to be longer... which cause the HP to be in a healthy range, but MP being drained faster.

This is a viscous cycle.


(But...)

Yes, she has to say but.

Isuzu don't think this is a mistake. Even if it is one, that is only to the level of 'not going with the best choice'... which is the same level as Tohya and Rundelhaus. She don't think this is the reason for the battle falling into chaos.

Anyway, if this is a mistake, why should she have done instead?

Isuzu thinks.

(Actally, I am not good at thinking...)

She is not good at setting a battle plan.

Analyzing and executing are areas Isuzu is not proficient in, but compared to thinking, Isuzu is even worse at dealing with the heavy atmosphere in the tent.

So she carry this feeling like a heavy rock in her stomach, and continue to worry.

Not only Isuzu, all the beginners in the tent including Minori and Tohya are the same.

As they kill the time with their worries, their first night in the Sand Leaf hill region has only began.










3

Even if it is described as 'small hall, it is still bigger than a classroom in the old world. In this small hall, with music played by beautiful ladies as the background, the people in the room gathered in many small circles.

This is the 'Ancient palace of eternal frost'.

In a corner of its upper level is the 'hall of seven maidens'.

The young knights stand around and chat cheerfully, the noble ladies sat on the classy coaches that are placed all over the hall, gossiping and laughing happily. There are also the courteous sons of noble, moody scholars with bitter smiles and frail looking bureaucrats.

This is suppose to be a party where the young people of the 'League of Freedom Cities Eastal' gathers without regards to their titles and position. Their age ranges from 15-25, with about 40 people attending.

"...Are you planning to stay here the whole night?"

"Yes"

Crusty replies without hesitation to Raynesia who is sitting across the small round table.

Raynedia tries to reply with a smile, but her face seems to be cramping up.

Raynesia do not find Crusty annoying.

This bulky knight is a man of few words, and will not say any pleasantries common among nobles. In simple terms, Raynesia do not have to pretend to be a 'gentle lady in the rain', thank god for that.

But she is a daughter of the Corwen clan.

If she spends too much time with a single man, who knows what sort of rumors will spread. If it only during this party, it should be fine. But if this carry on, what will they say about her? Raynesia is starting to be depressed.

(Does this man understand things like this...)

Crusty is drinking alcoholic black rose tea unfazed. The two of them have been occupying this seats since the party started an hour ago. But did not have a proper conversation this whole time.

In the short term, they both stand to benefit by maintaining this situation. This helps Raynesia by keeping the nobles, knights and bureaucrats and their hollow pleasantries at bay, giving her the room to breathe.

She is the grandaughter of the leading nobleman Duke Sergead.

In the whole of Yamato, there are only 2 clans with the noble title of Duke, they are the noble of the nobles. This title was bestow by Westgrandia during ancient times. After the fall of the ancient empire, only the clan that watches over the grave of Westgandia, clan Itsuki, ranks higher than clan Corwen.

With a lineage as prestigious as this, there are many knights and bureaucrats who wants to woo her. Raynesia has a elder sister and a kid brother. With her sister moving away after her marriage, clan Corwen need either Raynesia to take a husband into the family or her sister to take in a wife in order to pass down the clan name. With this background, it is not surprising to see so many nobles and knights her age adoring and yearning for her.

(Hai...)

When she think about things like that, her heart feels heavy, and she cannot help but sigh. Raynesia treats marriage as an unknown country far away from here. Her parents relationship seems more cautious then common wedded couples, while her sister in sister in law seems to stick together like glue.

Raynesia is unable to judge which one is the real husband and wife.

She feels that living together with a stranger of the opposite gender seems ridiculous, but her position doesn't allow her to stay single.

Actually, you can't describe your husband as a stranger, but Raynesia didn't think that far.

When the young nobles and princess see Raynesia's sorrowful expression, they will say:"Raynesia seems sorrowful..." or "She should be worried about the future of the world, what a refined and cultured lady..." or something like this. But she doesn't take their words to heart.

The other main character in their gossip, Crusty, is also enjoying the benefits of being with Raynesia. The topic of their conversation describe him as the young leader of the round table council, the group governing the biggest coalition of adventurers.

With a force of 10,000, and everyone of them being stronger than their common knights. If you convert them in terms of the noble's army, they could easily reach tens of thousand in terms of battle power. Apart from this, their economy might not be as big as 'League of Freedom Cities Eastal' biggest city Maihama, but they are not far behind.

They are a powerful source that suddenly appeared in 'League of Freedom Cities Eastal'.

Even if you take away all this, Crusty himself is still a remarkable man.

Taller than 190cm, he is considered very tall among humans, but he does not give the impression of being thin and lanky. With his bulging muscles and strong body, you can tell just back looking he is a top class warrior.

Even when he sits down quietly, his glasses and sensible face make him look like a nobleman, his sand color hair also suits him.

Even if you take away the fact he is an adventurer, he still have a strong charm about him, drawing the curiosity and adoration of the ladies.

During the knights exhibition matches held 2 days ago, he wore a deep blue heavy armor with scratches and scars all over it. The knights who are proud of their beautiful and shiny armor all hesitated challenging him when they see his armor. Those who did spar with in are totally enchanted by Crusty's excellent skills.

Crusty is not willing to become the center of attention. But by being with Raynesia, he is able to avoid tedious invitations or be caught in troublesome schemes, at least that's what he said.


(Boohoo...)

Raynesia looks at Crusty with hate. Crusty has been ignoring her all this while, but he chose this moment to raise his head and look behind Raynesia.

"Princess Raynesia?

"Sorry for interrupting your chat, May I ask... Is it convenient for us to join in? We brought cookies."

The 2 young ladies are Marquis Racetar's daughter, Pulletan and granddaughter of Baron Yanton, Phrial. This is their first time at the party, Raynesia's batch mates.

"Of course you can... Sir Crusty, are you fine with that?"

Raynesia answered with a perfect smile. Crusty also respond like a gentleman, standing up with a smile and pulling 2 elegant chairs over for the ladies. Not sure where he learned that from, but he moves so smoothly that it is a joy to watch.

(...What is this, so he knows how to act like a gentleman in a party... So he knows how to give ladies a proper reception... Woo...)

The 2 young ladies seems relieved, offers Crusty cookies and started to chat. From Raynesia perspective, princesses and knights will both look at her with admiration. But girls won't woo her, so handling them is much easier.

But Raynesia has no common interest with them, even when they talk about new perfume and gowns, Raynesia is unable to keep up with the conversation.

She don't understand why she don't like perfume.

The smell is too strong.

No, if no one bothers Raynesia, she might not bath for a week, so she might be more smelly. She tried to explain from the angle of personal preference. But the fact is there will always be some one to bother her. Her maid will throw her into the showers every day, and perfume will be sprayed on her from head to toe.

As for dresses, she think they are uncomfortable. They either show too much skin or have too much decoration, a costume that is hard to live in.

Raynesia likes cotton pajamas.

The cotten pajamas with that is comfortable to the touch are the best. Silk also feels nice, but she don't like silk pajamas, they are comfortable to sleep in.

Put simply, she just want the whole in whole day in pajamas and sleep in her bed.


"...Princess Raynesia, you also agree right?"

Pulletan and phrial gives a cute smile, Raynesia reacted instinctively and says:"Yes, that's right." and smile in return.

Receiving permission from Raynesia, the two girls chatted by themselves happily. Raynesia's heart is sweating like crazy, she just agreed in the spur of the moment, but she was daydreaming and have no idea what they were talking about.

"Sir Crusty, Miss Raynesia is beautiful right?"

"Yes, I am honored."

Crusty replies, making the 2 princess laugh.the 2 girls are very cute to Raynesia too, they are very different from her, they have a cute personality.

"?"

"But... princess Raynesia is a kind lady, she only said that to show her concern for a banquet beginner like myself."

"There is no such thing, Sir Crusty is a gallant knight."

(Eh, hmmm?)

Raynesia expression is a gentle smile, but heart is in a mess.

From the conversation, the 2 princess is praising Crusty, and she also agreed with them.

Raynesia was doted by her grandfather, so she made her debut at a later age. But this 2 girls are different, she remember they are only 15-16 years old. In their eyes, the older Crusty is a knight they admire. Thanks to the age difference, they are able to join in the conversation of this table, and not hesitate like the other princesses.

The 2 of them compliment Crusty, Raynesia went with the flow and agreed... this should be the situation now.

(I hope it is just a normal compliment!)

"Princess Raynesia is accompanying me like this because she is concerned about me being unfamiliar with the customs of the courts, and is saving me from making a fool of myself. I feel that I am unworthy of this honor."

Crusty says smoothly to the 2 young girls, being a man of few words is totally a lie.

(He... He is a bad man! Super bad man!)

"Sir Crusty, allow me to introduce to the others..."

"Or would you prefer to play Chaturanga with us over there?" <TL note:ancient chess game>

The two of them suggested excitedly.

"Thank you for the offer, but no. Princess Phrail, princess Pulletan, I am just an uncultured man who only know about the battlefield. And princess Raynesia is willing to sympathize with a brute like me. Before I can repay her kindness, I need to stay right by her side."

Crusty is probably just lazy to entertain the othe nobles, but he says this with a face full of seriousness and zeal, the two princess seems to misinterpret to have romantic connotations. They comments "A knight's oath", "So dreamy", which make Raynesia's head hurts.

"Sir Crusty, please don't mind me and protect the beautiful flowers in the court yard, alright?"

Raynesia tries her best to look at Crusty with virtuous eyes as she say this. It means 'isn't it time to find some other place of refuge?'

"No, the peaceful air around the princess is calming to my raging heart from my many battles, if the princess is fine with me, please let me stay with you during this meeting period in order to repay your kindness."

Crusty's words mean "For the whole meeting period, I will be using your as a shield, this is a great cooperation plan right?"

This interaction made the 2 princess screams in joy and leave, the exhausted Raynesia lean back on the couch.

Crusty besides her gives a feeling of peace and quiet.

In the people's eye, this is a scene of a princess who is unable to bear the din of the party and her loyal knight protecting her silently.




4


"Huff...huff...."

Tohya pants loudly as he empty his water bottle in one gulp.

Serara besides him and ask:"Are you okay?"

Minori's group is in a tomb after taking the route on the right in 'Ragranda forest'.There are countless skeleton bones scattered all over.

They broke though the battle in the tunnel just now, and is using this tomb as as a choke point to handle the reinforcement, and managed to survive in the chaotic battle.

The party shows signs of exhaustion.

In this alternate world, their physical abilities and stamina is strengthened a lot. A middle school girl can spend the whole day climbing mountains and exploring dungeons is the best evidence.

But the mental fatigue is not so easy.

The long continuous battles drains their concentration.

The more chaotic the fight, the more mentally tired they will become. Minori is also troubled by her sharp headache for a while now.

(Now that I think of it, I haven't drank anything since the morning...)

Minori don't feel thirsty, but she still took a sip from her water canteen. If she is dehydrated, it will affect her ability to think, something she cannot afford to lose.

(The condition is very bad...)

Minori look at her party mates.

Tohya sit on the floor with his sword in his arms, and his breathing is recovering slowly. The battle just now was hard, and she lost a lot of blood, even losing 30% of his HP at one instance, and is suffering from various debuff that they have no time to clear away, it must be a painful experience.

But the exhausted Tohya is still siting near the entrance on stand by, so he can react immediately and be the enemies' first target. Minori think this is due to Tohya's determined and strong character.

Serara is still breathing hard, but she is still arranging the items in her bag. Minori thinks she is checking the position of the potions to handle the needs of the next battle.

Minori and Serara are healers, but they are still relying on potions. This might sound strange, but for example dispelling debuff have a cool down time, Minori's 'Notice of exorcism' have a cool down time of 20 seconds.

In other words, if you insist on only using 'Notice of exorcism', she can only clear one debuff every 20 seconds.

If the whole party is poisoned, by the time she get to the last person, 80 seconds would have passed. Serara is probably doing this to fight for time, so she will cure her own debuff with potions.

(Yeah, this is great, I will prepare next time as well.)

Minori added to her mental note.

But this also means that Serara who is a higher level healer than her is unable to handle the situation effectively, using potions is just a drop in the bucket.

Rundelhaus shut his eyes tightly.

Minori is familiar with this position, he should be opening the game menu and checking his remaining MP.

After the continuous battles, Minori only have about a quarter of her MP left. They are now resting, so their MP is regenerating at a normal pace, they can probably regain 70-80% in 10 minutes, enough to continue fighting.

But Rundelhaus has been casting spells rapidly, much more than Minori. If Minori's estimate of her party's mate MP is correct, Rundelhaus has exhausted all his MP in the previous battle. Maybe to him, waiting and recovering is also a way of working hard to destroy the enemy in the next fight.

For the past 2 days, Minori have heard Rundelhaus saying to himself "Why..." He probably meant "Why is this so hard", "Why can't we win" and also "Why am I so weak".

These words probably came about because of his conceited nature.

Minori understands, because she is the same.

('Why'... I can understand that feeling, we are holding each other back, even things we can do alone are done sloppily, something... is developing in a bad way.)


If she say these words, and endure them...

Minori didn't think of Rundelhaus as a carefree kid, he is taking his duty of exterminating the enemy seriously. In fact, he refuse to compromise on this.

(Mr Rundelhaus should be working hard in his own way... It might be hard to understand, but he is giving his all.)

Isuzu is quiet.

Minori is a bit worried about her, Isuzu is usually very cheerful and talkative. She is very sensitive to the atmosphere around her, unable to be playful in this situation. Minori is worried that she might not be able to endure this mentally.

(Regarding this... I am the same...)

Minori understand that something is wrong somewhere, which made the situation bad, she also understands that she is the one who can grasp the situation the best.

This is one of the danger Shirow mention repeatedly.

(But... I think...)

Minori shut her lips tight, now is a critical situation, it fits several examples Shiroe warned about.

"Why are we so weak..."

Rundelhaus who has calmed his breathing says.

His voice is not loud, but it reverberated within the walls of the tomb.

"..."

Minori bit her lower lip, Isuzu is unable to raise her head.

"I am level 24, the enemies is between level 17-21, so why are our battles so desperate? Isn't this weird?"

(This...)

Minori think this is because he have not performed to his full potential, or he is being held back from performing to his potential.

...Undead types do not have much intelligence. High level undead monsters aside, they have encountered skeletons and zombies these types of undead monster, they are not self aware or possess tactical intellect.

In the end, it is Minori's group who is suppressing their own potential.

But she is unable to say it.

Because she is level 21, the lowest in the party and a burden to her party mates. On top of that, the highest level here is her brother Tohya at level 29.

If Minori says these words, it will look like she who is the weakest is finding an excuse; If it is Tohya, it will look like he is defending his sister.

Even though they understand they are not performing at their best, they do not know how to overcome this problem.

"..."

"So... We can only keep practicing..."

Rundelhaus seems to not believe his own words, it is the same for the others.

But no one is able to comment, Minori's party remained silent.



5

The sound of water flowing can be heard clearly in the dark courtyard.

The fountain situated in the center of the courtyard continues to operate late into the night, the water flows through the beautiful sculpture and falls from a predetermined height, making ripples at the bottom.

'Ancient palace of eternal frost' designer seems to have made ample preparation to tackle the heat in the summer. This palace is supported by permafrost pillars 15 meters into the sky, so there is less humidity from the ground, and the temperature is lower.

Using unknown technology, fresh water is supplied to similar water ways all over the palace, the water flows from high to low and the cycle is repeated.

Even though it is August, the palace night air is still comfortably cool.


In the center of this cool courtyard, a young girl is practicing moves silently. The movement are not violent, those who are trained can tell she has put in effort into the practice of martial arts.

Every time she moves, her long black hair will sway with the wind. Her petite body is covered by dark and low profile clothes, but her slim body still have very alluring curves.

She is the young female assassin from Log Horizon, Akatsuki.

(right step, left slide, pause...left step, right side step, half a turn... pause.)

The young girl is practicing strange movements.

In karate or ancient martial arts, the focus is not only the steps, but also the upper body flow, all martial arts seems to follow this concept. But the young girl is putting her hands horizontally in front of her chest, she seems to be concentrating on practicing the steps.

At first glance, this is similar to a certain Chinese martial arts, not lowering the center of gravity, moving lightly with the knees and angles. It has a hint of Japanese Kendo, it is a weird movement.

(left step, right side step, half a turn... another turn... left side step, change position, right step, 2 steps...)

Akatsuki focus on practicing the steps repeatedly.

Repeating so much that she seem to have lost track of time, the entire movement merge wiht her body like blood flowing in her veins, Akatsuki incidentally raised her gaze and saw Shiroe.


"My lord?"

"Akatsuki you are not sleeping?"

"You... When did you....?"

"Eh... Just now."

Shiroe approached with a troubled expression, handing the glass in his hand to Akatsuki. He should be lying about 'Just now', how would he explain why he is holding 2 glasses?

When did he start watching? Akatsuki finds it hard to hide her embarrassment, but she works out to act casual and take the cup.

"My thanks."

The cup she receive is filled with iced red tea. Even though the taste is simple, but the coldness is just right, her body that just finished exercising welcomes it.

Shiroe sit on the limestone bench with decorative carvings near the fountain. There are space for at least 3 people besides him. But Akatsuki did not sit down, not because of the lack of space, but because of the lack of courage.

Akatsuki stands in front of Shiroe and drinks her tea casually. Even though it can be described as standing in front of him, she avoid standing right in front, able an angle of 60 degrees to the side.

(A ninja need to be like this.)

She explain to herself, but the other reason is that their eyes will meet if she stands directly in front of him.

Akatsuki wants to avoid that.

Even for a ninja, she don't need to be so humble. But she don't if it is respect or embarrassment, if Akatsuki is to face Shiroe directly, she will have a cowardly emotion in her heart.

"..."

But Shiroe did not expect Akatsuki to have such thoughts. He shows a faraway and troubled expression, which seems so mature to her.

This young man Shiroe's eyes have pupils that are slightly higher then usual, he have a habit of frowning when he is looking at something (And he looks at the details very closely), giving an impression of aloofness. As he wears a mischievous round frame glasses, the first impression will be they are being conned by him. But after being around him for a while, they eill be amazed by his deep thoughts and is wide imaginations.

It is hard for others to understand Shiroe's train of thoughts, but there are things only Akatsuki knows.

Living like family together in the guild house, she is able to see different sides of him, just like the him that is sitting on this bench, even Akatsuki who is short will also notice.

Yes, for instance Shiroe's hair whorl goes in a clock wise direction.

Akatsuki thinks this is very cute.

A bunch of hair behind his head will twirl like a rat's tail like he has just woken up, it is very cute.

That bunch of hair is sticking up now, tempting Akatsuki to touch it gently with her fingers. Akatsuki and Shiroe are both in university in the real world, they are at an age where they cannot touch each other casually without concerns, so she hold back her desires.

(But my lords clockwise hair whorl is very cute.)

Akatsuki thinks in her heart.

"So how do you feel about it Akatsuki?"

"About what?"

"...For example, what are the reactions of the people in the palace?"

Shiroe is very vague, probably because he is unable to explain it clearly himself, Akatsuki decides to report what she feels about the situation.

"You can describe it as curiosity, half of it is kindness, the other half is hostility."

"Is that so..."

"But, I feel it is good that even though there is hostility, there is no malice."

"?"

Hostility refers to their mentality, not only used on enemies, but also on potential enemies and competitors. Malice means the will to harm your enemies.

After listening to the explanation, Shiroe express:"Since that is the case, I think they have no concrete plan as of now."

"Even if it is hostility, it should probably be jealousy and admiration."

"You are right... it could also be the lack of trust."

Shiroe nod his head agreeing with Akatsuki's view. Shiroe should be using his own ways to observe the surroundings, searching for the meaning in the words and gaze of the crowds. He asked Akatsuki's opinion to compare answers, or to confirm his thoughts.


Akatsuki's group is always the center of attention where ever they go.

Henrietta and Shiroe's dance on the first day made them the topic of the day, Shiroe and Henrietta changed partners and dance for 5 music pieces. They received many dancing invites from the noble ladies and gentlemen, akin to a challenge on the social world of the 'League of Freedom Cities Eastal'.

During the dance party, apart from Shiroe and Henrietta, Crusty and Michitaka also socialized with many of the nobles.

The cute and petite Akatsuki was viewed with curiosity in the beginning.

From their common sense, anyone in this hall is either a noble or their servant. They are unable to decide which role Akatsuki belongs to.

But considering the fact that Henrietta danced with Shiroe, and Akatsuki's frilly dress, they decided not to see her as a servant, but as the family of a noble clan.

Once that is clear, a lot of invites pour in.

sons of nobleman or knights repeatedly approach Akatsuki, offering drinks and dances. Akatsuki don't mind they doing that, but she cannot tolerate being treated like a child.

Akatsuki is already an adult.

Why is everyone pampering her like a grade schooler? In that hall, only the daughters of nobles see Akatsuki as an equal, but they are obviously less than 15 years old.

(Why must I be treated as an equal by a child?)

Akatsuki is furious as she recalls this, there seems to be a fire burning in her belly.

In the real world, this treatment is normal.

She will be stopped at the bar, tickets counter staff will pat her head and tell her to get the children tickets, the clothes that fits her the best are in the children category. She had enough of this. And this is the reason she role plays as a tall silent man in Elder Tale, but even that is screwed up by the Apocalypse.

She almost drew her weapons at the dance party out of anger, but she restrained herself and escape. She is tired of dealing with other people, and used 'invisibility' and 'silent move' to leave the hall.

She have been walking around the whole palace using these skills since that day.

Like hiding behind a curtain or a pillars, she eavesdrop on the conversation of the nobles. She cannot approach too openly. Akatsuki's keen senses tells her there are other hidden people of the land also spying on the nobles. If you do not prepare adequately in advance, the one who notice first has the advantage over the ones who are hidden for this type of secret operations.

This is just the honor among thieves, a 'if you don't mess around, we can just ignore each other' situation. the spirit of not interfering with each other among spies.

Even by such a casual observation, it is easy to infer that the people sent to spy in Akiba is a lot more then expected. They are very interested and focused on adventurers and the round table council.

Deducing even further, this also confirms the people of the land knows about the Apocalypse, and think of this as the 1st step of the revolution that will impact the world.

"To harbor hostility, is it because of the difference in battle prowess?"

"That seems to be it."

Adventurers are powerful in combat, Akiba's 15000 adventurers, about half of them is level 90. Even if you lower the average level to 70, that will also mean Akiba has 15000 level 70 adventurers.

This fighting force is far above what the nobles can command.

One of the nobles leaked this information :"There are 15 level 30 knights in my army, the others are guards and militia, about a hundred, other then this, the rest are mercenaries." If this is true, there can suppress this territory with just 30 adventurers.

"I see, I think they did not make up these numbers, the weaker lords in the north east should be about this level."

"Is that so?"

Shiroe confirms Akatsuki's doubt. He seemed to have made progress in his own investigation.

"Because their forces are at this level, that's why they are not able to stop the evil ways of ruffians adventurers like Brigandia."

"You are right."

Akiba and the round table council have no intention to fight, they wants to cooperate with the people of the land instead, and coexist with them in this world.

For instance, if they have to fight the people of the land to return to their old world, it will be a different matter. But going to war with the people of the land has no benefit for the players.

But if they use this reason on the people of the land blindly, that will be dangerous.

Firstly, Akatsuki and the adventurers see this world differently from the people of the land. Their nobles govern the land and live off taxes. Adventurers are an unknown factor, and their actions might be a pain to the nobles.

And the other major problem is just as Shiroe said, battle prowess.

For example, if there is man with a machine gun in the room you live in, how would you feel? Living in this room must be very stressful, the question is not whether the man with the gun can be trusted, it doesn't matter if his character is good or if his morale is solid. It is even worse if that man is a stranger, it is a worry to be near a man with a machine gun.

"And they have not accurately judged the full battle powers available to of each other."

Shiroe goes deeper.

Even if the people of the land knows adventurers are strong, they won't know the extend of their strength. If you use the previous example, your room mate will be holding a certain weapon, you do not know if it is a chainsaw or a machine gun.

Maybe it is just a fruit knife or chopsticks such inconsequential weapons. But the worse case could be grenades or anti tank missiles, which will blow the whole room to pieces.

The nobles is not sure what weapons they have, so they are unable to judge if they should defeat them by surprise or ambushes or to strive for peace no matter the cost or humiliation.

"Should we threaten them with war?"

"That will be a bad choice, spreading feelings of fear too much is useless. I should say that even if there are pros, the cons are not worth the efforts."

"I see..."

Shiroe reject Akatsuki's proposal immediately.

But Akatsuki won't be depressed because of that. Shiroe is someone Akatsuki recognize as her lord, Akatsuki hopes he will excel in the tactical battle field, and progress to a point so far that she could never catch up. Akatsuki is okay with supporting Shiroe with her special skills. Just doing that will leave her contended.

"Hmmm...?"

Just doing that will leave her contended.

Just doing that will definitely make her contended.

Akatsuki feels something is not right, something is making her uncomfortable, but she don't know why. And this is a small feeling of discomfort, she will be fine ignoring it.

(It should be fine.)

And it is getting late at night.
'

If she wants to stay up for the night, it might affect her ability in fighting the intelligence fighting battle. Akatsuki is still okay for now, but Shiroe's duty is a strategist.

Akatsuki is about to advise Shiroe to go to bed when she felt a tremble of magic in the surrounding.

Shiroe felt it at the same moment.

She spring up from his seat, his hand holding his staff that appeared out of nowhere.

Akatsuki drew her Kotachi and take up a stance. A skinny man appears in front of her and Shiroe.

Wearing a robe like a scholar, his forehead covered by a purple crystal accesory, his skin seems to be covering just the bare minimum of muscles in a human body. If it is only that, it would be a sign of misfortune. But there seems to be a sense of humor in the man's expression, giving off an unspeakable charm, a feeling of adoration.

The man lowers his hand as a greeting and says

"You must be Mr Shiroe of Log Horizon, I am Re-Gun, a sage of 'Mirror Lake', please take care of me... I came here tonight to discuss some things with Mr Shiroe."


Chapter 3 end.