Log Horizon Book 1 chapter 1

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


Chapter 1: Catastrophe

1


There was a tree stump a few meters in height like he imagined. Going around the stump and making a turn besides the 2 building that matched his memory.

The ground was full of moss, you could get a glimpse of the asphalt road from the past in a few places. The structures that were erected here had been entwined thoroughly by giant ancient trees. Shiroe was running in these ruins.

He sprinted through this familiar scenery he was seeing for the first time.

There were silhouettes of people curled up on the streets.

These should be Adventurers in the same situation as Shiroe.

Their moans and screams made Shiroe suppress the feeling of fear that almost spilled out from his throat.

He was just being vain.

"What is happening..."

"Me, me! Strange, why am I dress like this?"

"Some, someone come and handle this! Hey, game master! Are you listening!"

They screamed like dying animals.

It might sound humiliating, but this helped Shiroe regain his composure.

(I don't want to scream like that.)

Shiroe ran with this feeling in mind.

(I can move my body at will... It feels weird because the length of my limbs are different... Thankfully not by much.)

In front of him was the city known as Akiba.

Vines sprouted vigourously from the asphalt surface and wrapped around the abandoned buildings and merged with the moist ancient trees. This was the base of many players, it was a place that was so familiar he felt homesick if he spent time away from it... the biggest city in the Japanese server of Elder Tales.

"Akiba? Ridiculous! Something is wrong with my head! Can anyone tell me, Is there anyone!"

A man curled up in a ball shouted. Everyone was wearing thick clothes or armor, the dressing of residents who lived in the middle ages.

That was expected.

Elder Tales was the largest online game in the whole world, a world based on sword and sorcery.

But that should just be the settings of the game.

The wind brushing against Shiroe's face was humid and cold, it felt refreshing like he was deep in the forest.

Unlike the dry air that irritated the skin in Tokyo where Shiroe resides. This wind and lush greenery told Shiroe that this was not the world he was familiar with.

Shiroe shook his head and recalled the events that just happened.

He was playing Elder Tales.

He remembered sitting in front of his desk at home and enjoying the game displayed on his monitor.

Elder Tales was an online game that was proud of it's 20 years of history and was still going strong. The game contents and graphic engine would be updated when it new versions were released. It had accumulated a wealth of information and challenging game mechanics which were elements that made it so popular.

Today was the official release of the 12th expansion pack of Elder Tales, there would be new items, zones, monsters, raids and most importantly, an increase in the level cap.

With the server being updated today, there must be plenty of players logged in. There were no means to find out, but Shiroe confirmed from his friend list many people were online.

Shiroe was a veteran player in Elder Tales.

Since starting this game in middle school, he had been playing for 8 years.

There were over 100,000 players in Japan alone, the number of fans worldwide exceeded 20,000,000. This ultra massive online game had made Shiroe invest tons of time into it.

Shiroe was also looking forward to this expansion, but he disliked being discomposed like beginners and decided to maintain his usual pace. He was planning to bring a pair of twins he was training with him to the beginner zone to hunt monsters and explain some techniques and item usage.

But his memory stopped abruptly there.

Shiroe remembered seeing something like a advertisement video.

Shining flame-like words appeared on the black screen.

He then saw the sky falling away from him and a darkness-like sticky asphalt. A bright moon flew through the darkness.

That was it.

And so, Shiroe was running in Akiba. Moving forward with his legs that had turned real, pushing off the ground.


He heard the sound of a xylophone in his ears.

This familiar ring tone was an alert of an incoming telepathic call.

Shiroe squint his eyes and focused on his forehead, browsing the game menu that appeared in his mind. After fighting off his panicked emotions from being transported to this world, Shiroe learned these controls very quickly.

"You here yet Shiroe?"

"I'm almost there!"

Shiroe listened to the voice of his old friend he had missed so much, as he made a right turn at the building ruins that was on the verge of collapse.

The gentle humid breeze, the sweet sound as he brushed through the trees and the bright lights.

This was the dazzling brilliance that you could only see in the early summer.

The refreshing wind didn't bring the heat of the sun with it, only it's clean and brilliant light. It was so pure that you could not cope with it.

The summer sunlight shrouded the entire city. The giant ancient trees and huge buildings left a shadow that covered the streets, the contrast of light and shadow was beautiful.

The scene that was expanding before Shiroe's eyes was something that he had witnessed countless time, the main city of the game world... Akiba.

But this impressive visage that was impossible to feel from the game surrounds Shiroe's entire body.

Shiroe was sprinting in this scene using his own legs.

Every step he took pressed the moss into the ground, giving him the feeling of slipperiness. He could feel his heart pumping blood all over his warming body.

This was an undeniable reality.

This was the Akiba that matched Shiroe's impression entirely.

The half destroyed ruins, the ever expanding Balaca hotel and the old trees rooted on the ground were all the same. In the game setting, Akiba was a holy ground that was slowly being devoured by the forest.

It was located among the 'League of freedom cities Eastal' on the east of 'Crescent archipelago Yamato', a home base of players, a Japanese server city in Elder Tales.

Going through the central main road and making a turn besides the 3 story high hotel with a pub.

The ruins were all concrete buildings reinforced by steel. 3C electronics, game shops, music stores, they all reminded people of the Akiba in the real world. All types of buildings and scenery were recreated in Elder Tales as ancient ruins.

The civilization of the old world was buried all over the world, some were huge underground structures, some were skyscrapers, Akiba city itself was also a heritage from ancient times.

The giant structures that had been reduced to debris were surrounded with wooden houses that merged together under the embrace of the ancient trees, becoming a magical scene.

After Shiroe arrived, Naotsugu who was sitting on concrete debris stood up and received him.

The lights shone in from holes without window frames in the wall, illuminating the 2 of them better than any game engine could manage.


Naotsugu looked pale, but he still laughed heartily and slapped his sheath.

His height was a bit more than 180cm with a strong body, wearing a dull but horribly strong steel armor. Naotsugu had a shield on his back and looked like an ancient hero warrior in his get up.

"Hi Shiroe!"

"Naotsugu, eh... good morning."

Shiroe didn't know how to react when he heard Naotsugu's greeting, and fell back on this plain cold greeting.

Elder Tales had a standard voice chat system, players were able to communicate while playing the game like chatting on the phone by using a microphone and speakers. Some players didn't like to use voice chat and insisted on text messages, but Shiroe and Naotsugu were not like that.

That's why Shiroe remembered and was very familiar with Naotsugu's voice.

Naotsugu Hasegawa.

If anyone asked Shiroe who was the most reliable person in the game, he would be among the first few choices that came to mind.

Online gaming is playing a game through the internet, Elder Tale was a 'Massively Multiplayer Online' or 'Massively Multiuser Online' type of game. Several hundred or thousands of player would be connected to the same game space to play this game. In other words, this type of game allowed players to know many other players, to work together or compete with each other.

Shiroe had played Elder Tales for many long years, so he knew a lot of people in the game.

But the people you know in the game remained in the game. Different people might have different playing styles and opinions, but most people would not reveal their real identity in the game world.

With the increase in online crimes after the year 2000, protecting your personal data was common sense for the online community.

But that didn't mean you couldn't make real friends.

Naotsugu knew Shiroe's real name... meaning Shiroe gave him his contact details and was one of the few players that had met with him offline as well.

Shiroe let out a sigh of relief when he heard Naotsugu's voice.

They might have met in person before, but they had spent much more time conversing through the game screen. Naotsugu spent countless nights with Shiroe in the Debauchery Tea Party, visiting countless border zones, experiencing countless battles together, he was one of the players in Elder Tales Shiroe was great friends with.

They had chatted about so many things under the skies.

They even discussed their boring feelings, not like a friend he only met in a game at all.

For Shiroe, this cheerful and reliable voice was the symbol of Naotsugu.

"What is this situation? Did Elder Tales evolve to this level while I wasn't playing? To be honest, this is too real for me, this is not possible with just improving the level of particle effects and rendering machines right? Is this a joke?"

Naotsugu pouts as he asked Shiroe.

His cheerful and chatty voice sounded a bit depressed.

"This is nerve wrecking."

Shiroe vaguely nodded and raised the magic staff in his hand.

(Come on, this is a magic staff, magic staff.)

This was a commonly seen item in fantasy games and was about Shiroe's shoulder in height. This was made by grinding and bending a long and slender tree branch and reinforcing with metal... just like a magic staff used by mages.

The only place you could find this was in a role playing store.

He probably noticed Shiroe's silent reproach.

Naotsugu bent his head to check himself out.

Naotsugu was wearing steel armor that seemed to weigh dozens of kilograms, he had a shield on his back and a sword with an elegant hilt on his waist. Naotsugu's appearance looked like a warrior in a fantasy setting.

"Eh, I look like a role player myself."

"That's right."

Even though it was not sounds of joy, the two of them looked at each other and laughed.


"Now that you mention you... look the same."

"You too."

The two of them observed each other's appearance.

Shiroe and Naotsugu were basically game characters in Elder Tales.

The characters in the game were originally constructed using 3D models, a far cry from the real world. But the two of them existed for real in this world, everything was as detailed as reality.

But if you looked closely, this was not turning the game into reality. As a game, the characters of Elder Tales were designed for both male and female.

Since it's a monthly subscription game, there were very few players who intentionally choose ugly appearances. To meet the demand of the players, the market would use beautiful 3D models.

But Naotsugu was not just turning his stylish character in Elder Tales into reality. Shiroe had seen him in real life several times, and he looked exactly like Shiroe remembered.

"Naotsugu, your face looks very similar to your real face alright?"

That scar that ran through his brow for his game character was gone, Naotsugu's face had his own bright eyes and the corner of his eyes were slightly drooping. His adult face has a boyish grin on his lips.

"You too Shiroe, scholarly man with glasses and nasty beady eyes."

There were friends who described Shiroe this way, and his features seemed to be reflected on this body. As Shiroe thought about this, he gave this standard answer he used countless times:

"Can you just ignore that?"

"What is the current situation? Tell me if you know anything, 'black heart glasses'."

"I personally want to tell you, but I don't know anything."

Shiroe and Naotsugu kicked away the shattered debris and sat down. Shiroe didn't have any information to explain the current situation.

Compared to the suburban area Shiroe woke up in, this was closer to the center of Akiba. If you listened carefully, you could hear the buzz of the city from here.


"Firstly, this is not a dream."

"Yeah."

Shiroe nodded and agreed to Naotsugu's inquiry.

When he regained conscious, he was in a familiar place... that doesn't exist in the real world, which seemed like the game he was playing. Elder Tales was a fantasy game with the world of sword and sorcery as its backdrop. Players could create their characters, Adventurers, and travel through the world from their characters view.

The body that Shiroe was controlling like his own, was a character he controlled in the game 'Shiroe'.

But the appearance of this character seemed to reflect the real face of Shiroe.

"Have you seen the status screen?"

"I have."

Since Elder Tales was a game, the strength, stamina and all sorts of abilities were represented in the form of numbers. All sorts of commands in the game were input through the menu.

There were no such game related screens anywhere you looked in this world. If you focused on your forehead region, the world would present a translucent status screen indicating all sorts of values and graphs. By controlling the cursor with your mind, you could perform all sorts of action. Both of them realized this about half an hour after waking up.

And they discovered the telepathy function. This was a function to contact your friends that were online in the game. In the Elder Tales world, this function was similar to a cell phone, allowing players to contact their friends from far away.

They could only contact people registered on their friend list.

Focusing on their forehead and browsing their friend list desperately with rusty controls, Shiroe was shocked and shouted when he discovered that Naotsugu was online.

Naotsugu was surprised when Shiroe contacted him through telepathy, but he quickly agreed to meet up at the ruins nearby.


"..."

"..."

The silence hung between them as both of them thought about what to say. But the answer was obvious, Shiroe had a better grasp of the situation than Naotsugu. From what Shiroe knows, Naotsugu hadn't logged into Elder Tales in the past 2 years.

Shiroe told Naotsugu everything he knew.

Even though it was everything, he didn't talk about much.

If it was about things that happened when Naotsugu wasn't around for 2 years, they could talk all day. But the reason and background of why they were involved in this perplexing event, Shiroe had no clue.

What he could confirm was this: He installed the expansion pack 'Novasphere Pioneers'. Shiroe was playing with beginners just outside of the city when this incident happened. This looked the same as Elder Tales starting point Akiba, and they seem to be in the game world. They have the same body as their characters and retained all the items and equipment they had in the game.

(Now that I think about it, how are the twins doing? I need to check on them later.)

But Shiroe didn't know why this was happening.

As Shiroe narrated, Naotsugu listened carefully. When unfamiliar terms popped up he would ask about them, but he didn't interject with his own opinions.

Shiroe didn't like noise. He was fine with lively and festive atmospheres, but he disliked chaotic hustle and bustle.

Naotsugu was cheerful and mischievous, but he was smart enough to listen to others.

Their character differed but they hit it off well, maybe they both had the generosity to compromise with each other.


"I see, eh, alternate world... an alternate world has sucked us in, fantasy has become reality..."

"So Naotsugu, why are you here? Making a comeback?"

Naotsugu replied:

"Yeah, I heard about the new expansion pack, and things at work was calming down so I logged in to take a look..."

...Come back.

(So Naotsugu was coming back. So Naotsugu was planning on coming back...)

Shiroe thought.

He recalled that Naotsugu was 2 years his senior.

Shiroe met Naotsugu 4 years ago.

Shiroe was already a veteran player in Elder Tales then. It was normal for a middle school student to play with computers in that era, but Shiroe was one of the few homely type. Put simply, even if he went out, his heart was still at home... a kid who was still lonely in the crowd.

Even after moving on to high school and college, he maintained this form of entertainment, touring the virtual world everyday.

Elder Tales already has a special place among online games back then. If you wanted to play a challenging game with incredible content, it had to be Elder Tales, this was the view of the game amongst the players.

For instance, Elder Tales had a grand vision, the 'half gaia project'. It might sound ridiculous, but the goal of the project was to recreate earth at half it's scale.

The starting city for Japanese server was Akiba, corresponding to Tokyo in the Japan archipelago. North American servers had the 'Big apple' and 'South Angel' as starting cities. Japan and American servers were just convenient names to refer to. The online world was made up of many different servers connected to each other, so it was theoretically possible to head for other continents or even the end of the world. Hence, one of the selling point of Elder Tales was the ability of players to travel to other servers, something normal MMO could not emulate.

The half gaia project was a long term goal, the current gaia was not a perfect rendition of the real world.

In Elder Tales, the world was divided into many zones, each with it's own territory and boundaries.

Like the vast sea of trees in Mount Fuji was a zone where ferocious monsters lurked, the dungeon Shinshuku metro complex was a stage for adventure and Akiba city was a non-combat zone.

Going deeper, a room in a hotel was also a small room. Some zones could be traded, if you accumulated enough in-game coins, you could be a land or home owner.

All zones were connected in their own ways. Open plains for example didn't have boundary demarcation, so players wouldn't be able to tell which zone they were actually in.

When they moved across zones, they wouldn't even notice.

Some zones had obvious demarcations. Like some buildings and rooms were individual zones that were connected elsewhere through a door.

From what Shiroe knew, the Japanese server was managing tens of thousands of zones.

With a scale like this, the developing company had to outsource to other major gaming companies, and knowledgeable veteran players like Shiroe were convenient reliable existences.

Shiroe had been invited by many guilds during his long tenure in the game, and had join a guild temporary thinking of it as a trial.

Guilds were the most common way for players to form a group in Elder Tales.

After entering a guild, players could access the guild account in the bank and use the guild warehouse to manage their equipment easily as well as other convenient services. The guild members keep in touch with each other so it's easy to form raid parties.

So most players in Elder Tales joined a guild since it was convenient and had many benefits.

Shiroe liked to research the game contents, even getting news from foreign servers, his knowledge was better than other players that had the same years of experience. From this perspective, Shiroe was someone who can contributed greatly to whichever guild he joined.

No player could grasp the details of all the zones perfectly, Shiroe was also not a genius of that level. But things like main routes, the connection between zones, the transport device known as the fairy rings, knowing these could shorten your transportation time greatly. What you can buy at which zone or where you can hunt for a specific monster, this knowledge needed to be accumulated slowly over time.

Countless zones, endless varieties of items and monsters, missions known as quests, all kinds of ancient lore and knowledge... including anything else the developers could think of, the culmination of all these was Elder Tales.

But Shiroe could not get used to relationships that included elements of convenience and benefits. He had mellowed out now, but the Shiroe back then was much more stubborn and naive... And was an embarrassing neat freak.

Even if Shiroe didn't make requests of others much, he didn't know how to decline others.

He didn't decline but his feelings didn't accept it either.

There were all sorts of people in the game world. As long as there were people, there would be both pure and impure relationships. For Shiroe who was in middle school, this might be too shocking for him.

Shiroe noticed that he was being used like a walking encyclopedia, along with his high level character, he was dragged around like an all-purpose tool to fight for the convenience of others.

Shiroe couldn't adjust to this type of relationship or reject them tactfully, so he choose to leave the guild and mingle with others in temporary raid parties by himself.

Before Shiroe realized it, he had become a famous solo player with both deep knowledge and high level characters. As Shiroe's fame grows, he fell deeper into solitude.


Naotsugu met Shiroe when Shiroe was starting to get stronger and traveling alone having given up on guilds. Shiroe was starting to grow numb to the feeling of solitude.

Shiroe and Naotsugu met in the Debauchery Tea Party.

Debauchery Tea Party was not a guild.

Debauchery Tea Party was just the Debauchery Tea Party, there was no other way to describe it.

It was just a group of players who 'just' happened to congregate there.

Even though they 'just' happened to be there, but there were 'always' there and 'ready' to go.

... That's the place Shiroe belonged to.


The guilds they joined were different.

Their characters were not the same.

They had nothing in common.

They just gathered in the ruin building. Some times in the plains, other times on the hills where you could see the stars.

This group went on adventures.

Elder Tales was a sword and sorcery style fantasy world, set thousands of years into the future. This was the setting the players bought into.

According to the legend of Elder Tales, there was a massive war on earth, shattering the old world... And reconstructed by the gods miraculously into this one.

This was a common mythical setting seen in fantasy games.

Orcs, goblins, trolls, giants, chimera and hydra, these common mythical monsters roamed the lands.

Most players found joy in battling. Gaining EXP and leveling up after defeating monsters, looting powerful and rare treasures, this was the common way to play Elder Tales.

But this was just grinding and farming, not real adventures. Repeatedly fighting and adventures were different things, Shiroe learned this for the first time in the Debauchery Tea Party.

And he could always see 'her' in the Debauchery Tea Party, as well as companions who were helping 'her'. Shiroe was also a companion there too.

The people Shiroe met in the Debauchery Tea Party might be the first friends he met in Elder Tales. Naotsugu was one of them.


2

"Since you were coming back, that means your job was stabilizing?"

"Yeah, it is more or less stable. Aye, this has been a hectic year."

The Debauchery Tea Party went on for 2 years, which was the most fulfilling and joyful period in Shiroe's time in Elder Tales. But after some incidents, the Debauchery Tea Party which created many legends came to an end.

One of the reasons was Naotsugu taking a break away from the game.

During the winter of that year, Naotsugu wasn't able to go online for a period of time because of his busy work schedule. Several people also left the game at that point due to personal reasons.

The Debauchery Tea Party was not a guild.

Since it was not a guild, they did not have any obligatory relationships. Although everyone was all grown up and wouldn't say it due to embarrassment, but this group... treasured their friendship very much.

It was not decided by anyone, the Debauchery Tea Party just went on a indefinite hiatus. They thought about inviting new friends to carry on the congregation, but that would be a different adventure and story.

Although the Debauchery Tea Party easing to function made them sad, no one hung their head in regret. They enjoyed many more adventures than most people, that was reward enough.

"Work was finally on track and going sort of smoothly right now. What really sucks was that there are no cute girls there."

"That doesn't matter right?"

Shiroe brushes off Naotsugu's complaints.

Naotsugu could be described as a 'hero'. <TL: maybe bro fits better>

Shiroe thought Naotsugu has more courage than him. It might be recklessness in some situations, but Shiroe had never seen Naotsugu stop being a chatterbox no matter what happened.

"What's with your eyes? Closet pervert look?"

"I'm not a closet anything."

"Yes you are. There are 2 type of men in this world, open perverts who admit it and closet pervert who don't. I am an open pervert who likes panties, Shiroe is a closet pervert who definitely like panties."

The ridiculous theory made Shiroe pout.

But Shiroe wasn't angry.

Naotsugu had always been sensitive about others and his words were meant to lighten the mood. Even if his dirty jokes might trouble others; Shiroe was a healthy man, so he was also interested in the opposite sex. He knew that he could take this level of joke and conversation.

"I also like... Ah, although I like girls, but I still have standards."

"I know personality is important, but you can still be attracted by their appearances."

"... You might be right, but we don't need to stoop so low right?"

"Yeah."

Naotsugu gave a big sigh.

Shiroe nodded, he understood Naotsugu's point.

"Even if work had calmed down, there was no need to take a vacation in the virtual world. And with things like this, can we really go back?"

Naotsugu said jokingly.

All the other players trapped in this world should be asking the same thing. Naotsugu expressing this suffocating problem in such a joking manner showed his mental tenacity and his concern for Shiroe.

"I was thinking, maybe a new god just took over, and has a delusional fantasy." <TL: Chunnibyou>

"It is so cruel to trap us this way. Really, the whole world has turned upside down, is this some type of festival?"

"Yeah, let's not have any expectations that we can go back anytime soon."

"Your world of accepting this situation also seems ruthless."

"Only suicidal people will show mercy when they know what is going on."

"As expected of the tactician of the Tea Party."

Naotsugu replied condescendingly, then shook his head and said with a serious expression.

"Right, no expectations for now. So going by the fantasy novel settings, we need to survive by our own from now on?"

He was not happy about this, but Shiroe nodded and agreed with Naotsugu's questions. According to Shiroe's memory, he had done everything as usual, living normally, taking baths, logging in to Elder Tales, fighting monsters with the beginner twins, before his consciousness was cut off.

Everything he did was about the same as usual, but he was forcefully trapped in this situation.

It might be due to some external factors or some mistake he made, but there was no way for Shiroe to find out.

There might be some way out of this situation and alternate world, but Shiroe didn't know how at this instance.

In other words, be it searching for a way back or going back to the old world by some unknown external mechanism, they needed to live in this world before that happened.

"We might wake up in our old world if we die here, but I wouldn't recommend doing that. Acting like that would be the same as borrowing a billion dollars from loan sharks because you think the earth might explode!"

"Doesn't seems like a wise choice. If dying here meant dying for real, that would be a waste."

"That's right."

"But tactician Shiroe, it shouldn't be a problem if we just want to survive right?"

"Is it?"

"We are level 90 right? It might be bad if we needed to challenge a difficult zone, but it shouldn't be hard just living on right? We have money, we have equipment... My equipment is a bit outdated, but it is still serviceable, so there shouldn't be any problem right?"

Elder Tales was a RPG that used level systems, both Shiroe and Naotsugu were at level 90, the previous level cap in this world.

But this was not something worth mentioning, about half the players were level 90.

Elder Tales had a long history and similar to other online games, it has went through hundreds of updates, adding all sorts of game elements.

Although Shiroe didn't experience that period, but the level cap when Elder Tales just started was 50. The players enjoyed the Elder Tales world and would grind their characters to the level cap, and request for more adventures from the developers.

To meet these demands, the developers pushed out an expansion pack. It had new enemies, dungeons and adventures, as well as a higher level cap for the heroes to become stronger. There had been several level cap revisions since then, the latest one was 90.

The cap of level 90 came with the 'Heart of fantasy' expansion 3 years ago. The official announcement for the 'Novasphere Pioneers' expansion pack included an increased level cap to 100.

This meant the players would have time to grow their Adventurer's avatar.

Before the release of the new expansion pack, half the players were already at the level cap and there was nothing strange about it.

"... I don't think this is it."

"Why?"

Naotsugu was not discouraged even when facing such a situation.

Shiroe admired Naotsugu's optimism. Shiroe didn't have his mental strength.

Shiroe was filled with unease. His heart analyzed the situation as if it were driven by this sense of unease.

"We came to this alternate world... though we do not know if this is simply a game world, but we were sucked into this situation... That is already a strange matter."

"Yeah? Eh, that is not wrong... Hmmm?

"Simply put, I think 'It is impossible to stumble into an alternate world by normal logic. Since something extraordinary happened, we can not take anything for granted. So we might get hurt if we take it for granted that we will be fine.'"

Shiroe's words stunned Naotsugu for a while, and he replied with a resisting expression.

"Your syllogism sounds really nasty." <Mamare like deep words>

"My point is that we can't ignore this too."

"You have a point, but..."

Naotsugu clenched and unclenched his fist repeatedly, maybe he was doubting the reliability of his level 90 body.

"I want to make another thing clear, you might have missed it because of the uproar... But the new expansion pack should be in effect now."

"Novasphere pioneers right?"

Yeah, this means there will be new equipment, monsters, quest and more zones as well right? They might have remodeled some areas too."

"Now that you mention it... that is absolutely right."

Shiroe shifted his gaze away from Naotsugu and continued:

"Magic seems to work here. Choosing the magic from the menu is dangerous and slow in a live battle, but if we set it on the hotkey, we can cast spell after a short cast time, I have confirmed this."

"Yeah, I tried that too, all the skills I learned can be executed."

"But that doesn't mean we can win battles."

"Is that so?"

"How tall are you Naotsugu? I mean in real life."

"183cm, same as my game character."

Naotsugu rubbed the top of his head.

"I see, so there should be no strange sensation for you. There is several cm difference between me and my character's height, so it feels a bit off. Eh, something like wearing shoes with thick soles... If the length of the limbs are different, this sensation is even more obvious. There are some differences between this body and our real body, this is not the body we are familiar with. Even if we can use swords or magic, how accustomed we are to fighting is an unknown."

"Ah, you are right, that is a bunch of troublesome problems."

"... Another important matter is the difficulty in checking the status screen."

Naotsugu had a surprised face as Shiroe carried on.

"We can see the status screen by focusing on our forehead. If we form a party, we should be able to see each other's HP, but to do that in live battle will be hard. I'm still fine, but for Naotsugu who is on the frontline, it will be difficult to keep track of the status screen while fighting the enemies in front of you."

"You mean it is difficult to fight?"

"I think it is better to keep this in mind."

He did not explain it to Naotsugu, but the field of vision was crucial as well. You could make your point of view wider if you were playing from the monitor and see things from a wider angle. But currently, they could only see at an angle of 120 degrees in front of them.

Take Trolls and Giants as examples, fighting these huge foes would create blind spots that weren't there before... There are tons of problems in terms of battles.

"Anything else?"

"Also..."

"What is it, is it hard to say?"

Shiroe was surprised by his own troubled sigh.

Frankly, the issues with battles and the difference in game environment were trivial. It could be troublesome and more challenging, but Shiroe thought this was something they could overcome.

The things he wanted to say made Shiroe's heart heavy, he had been buying time by talking about unimportant things to prepare himself.

"What is it, famous tactician?"

Although Naotsugu called him that, Shiroe was not fit to be a tactician.

Shiroe would voice out his thoughts because it was Naotsugu, but Shiroe was used to thinking about all sorts of things by himself.

Because of his attention to minute details, the Debauchery Tea Party gave him the nickname of 'tactician'. He had a way with words, so he took on the duty of planning and coordinating battles.

"...The Japanese server of Elder Tales has 1,200,000 registered characters with 100,000 consistent players."

"Hmmm? That is correct."

For players like Shiroe, such numbers were common sense.

"Today is the release of the new expansion pack, so there are more people online than usual. From the ratio of the people who are online on my friend list, I estimate about 30,000 people are online. At this point, this should be correct... This alternate world is accommodating 30,000 Japanese, I am not sure about the North American, Europe or China server though."

Naotsugu nodded in agreement.

"So there are 30,000 people here..."

Shiroe didn't use the word players intentionally.

"We have no laws or government."

3

Naotsugu headed towards the city with Shiroe.

They tried to discuss further, but they lacked information to talk about so they couldn't conclude anything. They needed to focus on getting information for now.

This was common sense while playing Elder Tales but they were not sure if it was applicable now.

To play it safe, Naotsugu and Shiroe formed a party.

Parties are a way for people to interact, it meant a battle team. Unlike guilds, parties were temporary groups allowing you to check each others HP and status if you were in it together. They could tell each others distance and direction when in the same zone.

Akiba was a non-combat zone.

If you fought here, no matter if your opponent was a NPC or a normal player, the city guards would rush over in an instance and send the guilty party to jail. If the perpetrator attacked the guard, they would be executed on site.

There were many characters not controlled by players in Elder Tales. They were the NPCs in the game system, known in this world as People of the land.

They mostly worked as shopkeepers selling all sorts of things, or helped with administrative such as guild registration. They also acted like pedestrians in the streets, interacting with players by providing information or quests.

Since all the guards were higher than level 100, the players were unable to resist them.

Monsters wouldn't appear in the city. According to common sense in Elder Tales, this was one of the safe regions in this world.

It was like summer once they exited the abandoned building, the humid wind blowing across the whole city. The smell of mud was in the air and the grass and leaves swayed with the wind.

This scenery was too natural, making the idea 'we are in a game' vaporize from his mind. The presence of this world detected by his senses was too strong, the feeling of being in an alternate world was getting more firm, this was nothing like a game.

Making a turn at the avenue, they reached a major road with 4 lanes. At the corner was a high tech building made with composite materials, looking like a memorial. Head straight along the Akiba main road junction and you would reach the city square in front of the metro. Every building was either collapsed or covered in vines, slowly being replaced by giant ancient trees.

This was not like the Akiba in the real world, a high tech city made with glass and steel.

The colorful signboards and flashy decorations were broken, either slanting or broken in half, hanging off the giant silver leaf trees growing besides it.

The roads had been completely eroded by mud and glimpses of the asphalt surface could only be seen on the major roads. The alleys were covered with mud and moss just like a trail in a natural park.

The hybrid cars that had been abandoned since ancient times was enveloped by grass and was now the habitat of small animals.

This might be a sad sight, but it was still beautiful, like a painting in a way. It was not a polished kind of beauty, but the abandoned buildings decorated with the many colors of nature was full of life and vitality.

The players and NPCs occupied these ruins as their home and set up stalls and shops on the road side, giving it a feeling of a bazaar. This was the same as Shiroe's home town in Elder Tales.

If it was the usual Elder Tales, there would be many players gathered in front of the city square and people would set up shop and sell things to other players. Others would kill time here by waiting for comrades to go out for raids, it was a place full of life.

But this place was full of confusion, chaos and a complicated sense of frustration now.

He could see several hundred players gathered in the central square.

Not only this, the surrounding ruins and narrow alleys that overlook the plaza... he can also feel the stares of people standing on the deteriorated high speed rails

Everyone must be here hoping for some form of savior.

The game officials might appear in this place and explain the incident by announcing 'this concludes this event, isn't it impressive everyone?'... They must have gathered here hoping for something like that.

Even the players bearing such whimsical hope were letting down their guards and conversing with others. The noise volume that he could hear was lower than he expected from such a crowd.

They gathered in clusters all over the place and some threw worried glances around, some would sob while others would vent by cursing out loud.

They may have realized unconsciously that anything might happen. But the crowd had no intention of doing anything about it, which annoyed Shiroe.

(Do they plan to sit here forever... Really, wah, I met someone's gaze.)

Shiroe moved his sight away in surprise.

A pair of sorrowful eyes looked at him pleading for help.

Shiroe didn't think he was mentally weak, but he didn't want to test himself in these muddy eyes.

And...

(... This is irritating.)

Just squatting there like they are paralyzed.

Not doing anything yet still complaining, this irritated Shiroe. He could empathize with them, but the sight of a few hundred players looking crestfallen was not good for their psychological health.

Shiroe was able to take action after overcoming his initial dejection by chance, and he got a hold of his emotions after meeting Naotsugu. He was no different than the players sitting there waiting to be saved, and Shiroe understood that. Maybe that was the reason the feeling of irritation was so much stronger for him.


"Shiroe? Isn't that Shiroe?"

That came from a female voice. It was not too loud, but in this quiet and depressed atmosphere, the cheerful bell like voice attracted a lot of attention.

Shiroe turned and looked for the source in surprise.

"Marielle, Marielle, that was too loud, this... this is too prominent!"

"It is like a funeral procession here, what is the problem with that?"

Shiroe was pulled by Marielle's hand. The woman who ignored Shiroe's words and kept on talking was a female player Marielle known as sister Marie. <TL: Marie-nee!>

"You came at the right time, I was just looking for you."

"... Eh, may I ask, why are you looking for me?"

"Woo wah, What a beautiful lady. Where were you hiding this hot chick? You panties pervert."

"Please don't use the word panties now Naotsugu."

The three of them left the city square slowly and entered an inconspicuous alley. They didn't leave because they did anything wrong, but the atmosphere in the city square might give them tummy aches. And they were talking to Marielle who was more famous than Shiroe, so they had to be aware of their surroundings as well.


"What an impatient boy you are Shiroe, bringing me to a place like this."

"That's not what I want."

"So Shiroe made a girlfriend, that was quick."

"That's not it. Sorry sorry. Ah, this is Naotsugu."

"I am Naotsugu, friend of Shiroe... How may I address you?"

"I am Marielle, you can call me Marie or sister Marie. Wow wow! Naotsugu is handsome too! You guys are a couple?"

Naotsugu laughed gently. Although Shiroe was observing her and trying to see if she had any hidden meaning behind this, but there were no signs of malicious intent in her smiling face. She was hard to deal with because she meant what she said.

Marielle, who was smiling so warmly despite the situation that they were in, is a Cleric.

There are 12 classes in Elder Tales, all the players... meaning all the Adventurers had to choose one of these classes to begin their adventure. Among the 3 healer classes, Cleric had the strongest healing abilities.

Healers helped survivability but were weak in attack, a class suitable for adventuring in parties but not acting in solitary. The principle of the healer class was to assist others, players who choose this class were usually introverts, but Marielle was an exception.

Wearing a long white robe for healers and a head of long green hair, she was an elf which usually has a cute appearance. She looked just like she did in Elder Tales. Because it was a game world, all the players were hunks and beauties, but some players just had the charms to attract the goodwill of others.

In Elder Tales which has voice chat function, this was even more obvious. Marielle who was from Osaka, has a cheerful voice and helpful nature, a lot of players knew her. Instead of being popular with the opposite sex, she was popular with everyone because of her forthright style.

Marielle would not act like a spoilt girl and was admired by people of both genders. Shiroe was a veteran player so he knew a lot of people. But Marielle was different from Shiroe, a player who enjoyed helping others and had a wide network of friends.

She was the guild master of the Crescent Moon Alliance which had about a dozen or so members. She would hold parties in the pub in Akiba frequently, so she was well known in Elder Tales.

"You have such a gloomy expression."

"...Eh, that's still okay."

Do I look so gloomy? Shiroe worried.

Having a long face was normal in this situation, but he thought about how his facial features in the real world would reflect on the body of this world.

In the real world, Shiroe had been described as having 'nasty eyes'. He didn't use contacts to avoid looking even more scary.

In the Elder Tales that had become reality, hearing others call him gloomy made Shiroe think they had discovered his nasty eyes feature from the real world, so he was a bit frantic.

(But Marielle is also...)

Looking at Marielle , you could see that there were some differences between her and the typical forest elves.

"Anyway, I also don't want to be gloomy and I can understand how you feel. I have had enough, this is so ridiculous that I am feeling psychotic."

Bright hazel eyes, the contours of a elf with a hint of nobility, the slightly thick brows a big mouth that was smiling warmly. You could tell from her face that she was kind and warm, just how Marielle would look like.

He had never seen Marielle in person before, but Shiroe could feel that 'Ahh, this is indeed Marielle'.

"What kind of look is this? Hmmp, you must be thinking this is not my style right?"

Marielle touched Shiroe's forehead gently with her finger.

"My joking nature is my hobby, but the jokes I am making now is escapism. I am really troubled right now."

"Is she always like this Shiroe?"

"Yeah, she is always like this."

"But she is pretending right now?"

"I can't tell the difference."

Marielle's words surprised Naotsugu, but Naotsugu was beginning to understand her personality. Marielle laughed loudly at Naotsugu's reservations towards her, but she stopped and sighed under the stares of Shiroe and Naotsugu.

"Aye, hmmm... The situation is bad."

"Yes... want to exchange information?"

"That's fine, where should we start.. No, I remember, hmmm, let's be careful and talk at my place. Would you mind Naotsugu?"

Marielle invited them to her guild hall.

They could relax there, so the trio went around the Fulleger hotel and headed towards the guild building.

The guild building was a facility available in all cities, and they usually housed other facilities, forming a multipurpose mega structure.

For Akiba, the guild building itself was a zone with several NPCs working at the lobby. They were the staff of this guild building, you could form a guild by going to them. Players could join or withdraw from a guild by talking to them and going through the administrative process.

There was also a branch of the bank there. Everyone in this game world had a bank account used to deposit cash or valuable items.

There was also another important function for the guild building, the rental of guild halls. Guild halls were independent mid-sized zones, ranging from 3 to 10 rooms of living space that doubled as an office.

Some zones were open for sale in Elder Tales and players could buy and own them. They could set permissions for the purchased zone to allow the entry of specific players and design the interior of the zone as they liked, so many players also bought a small to medium sized area as their residence.

Although it was purchased, they needed to pay maintenance fee apart from the indicated price. The upkeep fee is 0.2% of the sale price per month, so only players with a certain amount of wealth would dare to buy it.

That's how guild halls came about, a zone that was specially made for guilds to rent. A guild that had a large enough scale would rent a guild hall in the guild building. This way, the items, ingredients or crafted items could be stored here, it also allowed members to gather and interact.

Crescent Moon Alliance was such a guild, having their own personal space in this guild building.

Shiroe and Naotsugu walked up the stairs to the 2nd floor of the guild building.

Going through a set of double doors, Shiroe and Naotsugu registered as visitors and entered the guild hall of Crescent Moon Alliance.

The guild halls in Akiba guild building had a basic retro design. Even though it was a basic design, it was just because of the floor and wallpaper that gave off this feeling.

You could decorate the zone you rented or bought anyway you wanted to. The guild hall of Crescent Moon Alliance had been cleaned thoroughly by its members, making it a comfortable place.

The walls were wooden veneer, giving it a warm familial feeling.

"We won't disturb other people here right?"

Marielle walked further into the guild hall as she said this.


4

"Come in, Ah, don't need to hold back, take a seat. Please take a seat too Naotsugu."

After entering a room deep within the guild hall, Marielle pounce on a couch full of pink pillows and gesture Shiroe and Naotsugu to sit.

"This is quite a feminine room."

"That's right, I am a guild master after all, so my room needs to reflect the dignity of a guild master."

Pink pillows, teddy bears, princess bed, a painting of a noble looking dog, curtains with yellow laces. These decoration in Shiroe's eyes has nothing to do with the word dignity. Shiroe feels distraught staying in a place like this.

He won't feel this way if it is a screen from a game, but he can feel this atmosphere as he enters this space for real.

He feels restless like an intruder in a private room. Fortunately it is the forthright Marielle, if it is the private room of any other girls, Shiroe will definitely retreat.

But even if the decors are too flashy, the room of the guild master is very spacious. They also have 5-6 rooms for storage and workspace, a rental for a guild hall like this must be quite high.

(Hmmm, the 40,000 with an upkeep of 80... about this kind of price right?)

Shiroe estimates in secret. This is the first time he was invited into this guild hall.

"How is your side coping with this Marielle?"

"There are 19 people online including me, 18 of us are in Akiba. Everyone is afraid and is staying inside the guild hall... Ah, don't be too concern, they won't hear us if we are not too noisy."

Marielle should have been prepared for this as she answers Shiroe's query smoothly.

18 in Akiba, meaning 1 of them is in another zone. Shiroe found out after asking that member was on an errand in another city.

"From what we know, Shibuya, Minami, Susukino and Nakasu are in the same state."

This means all 5 cities in Akiba's server are in the same situation. Marielle should have confirm this using her wide network of friends.

"Could it be that..."

"That's right, the inter-city transport gate has stop functioning, we have been isolated."

Marielle answers Naotsugu's queries, this is new information.

Akiba, Shibuya, Minami, Susukino and Nakasu.

This 5 places are the 5 major player cities in the Japanese server. Apart from these 5 cities, there are also many cities populated by stores and NPC, but in terms of completeness of available services, these 5 cities are top class.

These 5 major cities has been set to be starting cities as the expansion pack increases the game contents. All players in the Japanese servers have to choose one of these 5 cities as their base of operation.

There is also an inter-city transport gate in each of them, so it is possible to move instantaneously between these 5 cities... But they are not functioning right now.

"It means that going to Shibuya is still okay, but other cities will be difficult."

"Even if it is Shibuya, eh, how many was it? We need to go through 7-8 zones to reach?"

"The shortest distance is 4 zones."

Shiroe replies casually. The inter-city gate being down is a major problem.

Elder Tales that has a fantasy world view uses horses or walking as a primary way of transport for Adventurers. But with the implementation of the half gaia project that creates this world at half its scale, traveling this way takes too much time. To deal with this issue, the game sets up the fairy ring and the inter-city transport gate as an alternative mean of travel.

The inter-city transport gate are set in the player cities, allowing you to teleport instantly to any of the 5 cities. With this gate down, the difficulty of commuting with far away cities has increase rapidly.

Take Susukino for instance, it is situated in Sapporo on the map of Japan, from Akiba... From Tokyo to Susukino, you need to go through a huge amount of zones, it should take at least a week even in the game.

That is referring to in-game time, but in-game time should be the same as the time of this new reality from the look of things.

"Can you imagine... why did things turn out this way?"

Shiroe and the others can only answer with silence.

Seeing Marielle's dejected expression, Shiroe wish to answer this question, but he don't have the ability to.

"Cheer up Marielle... Things are serious now, but it could be worse."

"Is that so...?"

Naotsugu continues talking to the depressed Marielle:

"Even though we are trapped in this alternate world, but there should be tens of thousand of Japanese here right? Including the hundreds of thousand of players overseas, we have so many people in the same boat as us, so it is not the worse case scenario right? We have a common language, some money on hand, and we can still talk in this room after barging into this world, isn't that the best evidence? I haven't confirm it yet, but our stamina seems to have strengthen according to our character's status, we can use swords and magic. In other words, we have been given the basic ability to survive in this world. Compared to classic fantasy novels where the characters travels to an alternate world, we are much more fortunate, you can even say it is a piece of cake."

Naotsugu encourage her strongly.

"Are you familiar with such things Naotsugu?"

"I'm quite alright, read quite a bit about this when I was still schooling."

Even though it is a pointless question, Shiroe is still impressed by Naotsugu. That makes a lot of sense. He is used to seeing things pessimistically, that's why he missed the cheerful part.


"Yeah.... You are right!"

Marielle seems to be the same.

She look at Naotsugu with gratitude and hug him all of a sudden.

"Yeah! You are right! Naotsugu! Impressive! I am so moved, you have saved me!"

"Hold on, hmmm? What's with her?"

Naotsugu struggles under Marielle's embrace, but Marielle ignores him and hugs him tight.

"Marielle? You have visitors?"

A lady wearing spectacles knocks as she enters, she has an awkward expression as she look at Marielle and Naotsugu.

"Sorry to intrude Miss Henrietta."

"Hello Mr Shiroe.. Should I come back later?"

"I was hoping you can stop her."

"On it. Really... Hey Marielle! Don't act in such a shameful manner!"

The lady entering on Shiroe's request is the Henrietta in charge of the guild's accounts. She pull Marielle back by her shoulders and lectures her.

"Wah! Henrietta? I heard some great opinion, Naotsugu is right! He gave such a great speech!"

"I'm not asking about this! Now is a crucial period, consider the situation!"

Looking at the blushing and exhausted Naotsugu and the interaction between Marielle and Henrietta, Shiroe laughs.

Henrietta is a core member of Crescent Moon Alliance and on good terms with Shiroe.

She is a bard in charge of the guild's finance, a competent character. From Shiroe's perspective, he feels close to her since they both wear glasses. But looking at Henrietta in this alternate world, he feels this feeling is just his one sided opinion.

Blonde wavy hair, oval face and sharp chestnut eyes, she has a beautiful style like a secretary. She is wearing office clothing that shows off her mature and graceful beautiful, which suits her very well.

Shiroe is just a college graduate student who likes gaming. When their eyes meet, Shiroe feels he cannot handle her.

After Henrietta joins in, the 4 of them talked about their experiences so far and summarize their situation... But it has only been half a day, they don't really understand what is happen.


"What should we do now..."

"I think we should get in touch with our comrades through telepathy to avoid any confusion."

Henrietta makes a calm suggestion and Shiroe agrees. Don't think too far ahead, just do what you can for now or you will be swallowed by the current state of affairs. This is what Shiroe feels.

"That is correct Marielle. Mr Shiroe and Mr Naotsugu both has good points. Fortunately we have a guild hall, so for sleeping at night... It might be a bit of a squeeze, but i think it will be better for everyone to sleep here for now."

"That's right..."

Henrietta and Marielle's conversation makes Naotsugu flinch.


"What is it Naotsugu?"

"Nothing, just that this is so sudden, I'm not sure what to do."

Naotsugu denies in a hurry when he hears Shiroe's question. He is always making dirty jokes but seems so weak to direct attacks.

"Is Naotsugu weak against breasts? Want to touch?"

Naotsugu avert his eyes at Marielle's words, although he still took a peek. Breast holds the hopes and desire of men after all.

(Marielle is a beauty with a big bust after all, I can understand.)

Shiroe agrees in his heart.

Shiroe was also bullied by Marielle when they first met. But Shiroe insist on putting on the attitude of 'Ah? What about these 2 lumps of fats? It's heavy, please take it away'.

There was no need to emphasize on it, that is just Shiroe trying to be vain.

The Elder Tales then was just a game so that is just the conversation making like this sort of things are happening, while the screen shows their characters sticking together. Marielle has stopped teasing Shiroe this way recently, she probably got bored of it.

"Why is she acting so bold? It is scary."

"Marielle came from a girl school, Osaka people will become like that under that kind of environment... Marielle? It doesn't matter since this is a game, but now is a crucial period so restraint yourself!"

Marielle is lectured by Henrietta this way with a dejected expression. She will modestly accept criticism even though she is the guild master, that is Marielle's good point.


Shiroe did not join any guild and doesn't trust the guild system, but that doesn't mean he dislikes players in guilds.

It has been several years since he developed his hate of guilds. He didn't really get over it, but he is able to accept it now.

He form parties with Marielle and Henrietta several times, Marielle with her wide network of friends also gave Shiroe a lot of help. If Shiroe is not mistaken, the cheerful Marielle  who likes to take care of others will keep her distance from Shiroe who is afraid of personal relationships as a way to show her concern.

(Marielle is mature in a different way from Naotsugu.)

She didn't do it to curry favor from Shiroe or to balance their mutual beneficial relationship. The blessings that came along with Marielle's personality and kind nature, she did not just give it to Shiroe, but to all those around her. Shiroe thinks so.

(But this type of skinship... is troubling. Ah, right, Naotsugu is similar to me, that's why they hit it off so well...)

The Crescent Moon Alliance members probably gathered here out of their admiration for Marielle. It is a heavy responsibility to take care of almost 20 guild members.

Since Marielle is a trustworthy and kind player, Shiroe decides to explain in detail everything he has considered.

As Shiroe explains, Marielle pays special attention about the issues with battles and pointed questions. She frowned when he heard about the number of people in the server and the conflict the players might get into.

"I see... you are right. After listening to you I think that is very possible. Apart from violent incidents, they might be scams and pranks as well..."

Unlike Shiroe who only need to look after himself, Marielle  need to protect all her comrades, and she is also a woman as well.

"That's right! Listen to him lady! Don't do that again, you need to have some common sense, having a small brain is not good!"

"Woo! You are right! My breast is big but my brain is small! But we just met, do you need to be so ruthless Naotsugu? Naotsugu is annoying, idiot idiot!"

"Nope, Mr Naotsugu has a point. You need to correct this habit you have of hugging people since high school."

"This things doesn't matter right? Henrietta, your real name is Umeko anyway!"

"Ehh! I told you not to use that!"

From the way they interact, Henrietta and Marielle knows each other in real life. He is not sure how much of this serious topic went into their heads. Shiroe's head starts to hurt.

"Really, let's ignore this dumb broad... So we can't solve our current situation any time soon..."

"I think it will be better not to have such expectations."

Shiroe answers Henrietta's question.

"Isn't there something we can do about it..."

Marielle frowns as she says this, unable to accept that. Although he empathize with her, but Shiroe has already think about that. That's why they are collating information now.

The information on hand is too limited.

Among all the things they can do, Shiroe and Naotsugu prioritize gathering data, but that's not what everyone else will do.

Marielle is not like Shiroe and Naotsugu, she has to protect a lot of people as a guild master. But at the same time, she has more ways to handle things.

Guilds might be a common entity, but their structures varies.

The goals, activities and scale differs for each guilds, it is a organization that can be very different from each other.

In terms of contents of activities, an example will be battle guilds. One of the entertainment of Elder Tales is fighting, this type of guilds are made to support the members in battles, their activities are raiding either in the open world or dungeons. They join the guild as it is convenient for them to form parties and fight as a team. Since the members know each other, they will be more incline to invite each other to form parties, and their team work will also be better.

Akiba is the biggest city with the most number of players in the Japanese server, the famous battle guilds are black sword knights, honesty, D.D.D and west wind brigade.

Another type is production guild. Apart from the battle abilities of the Elder Tales main class, there are also all kinds of subclasses. Players who choose a production subclass which can forge items are known as artisans. The levels of main class and subclass are separated, You can train both at the same time, but there are some who rely solely on the subclass skills to enjoy the joys of running a business quietly in the city.

These type of players will join production guild which can have a very grand scale. As guilds have the ability to provide ingredients in bulk as well as warehouse usage, they enjoy more advantage the people they have. Famous production guilds in Akiba are Oceanic systems and The rodrick firm.

Marielle's Crescent Moon Alliance is a small scale adventure support guild. These guilds supports both battles and production, a guild that helps each other and the member to achieve their goal. As they don't specialize in any domain, so the members doesn't stand to gain much benefit, but the selling point is the warmth and peaceful atmostphere. Most small guilds belongs to adventure support style.

In this group of guilds, Crescent Moon Alliance enjoys quite a bit of fame.

There are not as famous or influential as major battle guilds, their income and scale pales in comparison to production guilds, but their support for mid level players and their flexibility in doing things receives good evaluation by the other players.

"Anyway, I think we should protect ourselves."

"Correct. From what I see, there are a lot of girls in this guild right?"

Henrietta nods at Shiroe and Naotsugu's points. Although battles are restricted in the city zones, there is no telling what might happen. There are also no ways to confirm the battle restriction are still in effect.

(We need to find out about this later too.)

Shiroe adds a new page to his mental note.

"Also, I think you should recall all the items you put out for sale."

"Hmmm? Market? Why?"

"Ahah, because..."

The market here refers to the service provided by NPC in major cities. Players can deposit their goods with specific NPCs and set a price to sell them.

Although the players usually trade among themselves, but if they have any excess crafted products or ingredients, the market is a convenient feature.

"Crescent Moon Alliance should have a lot of resource right? I think the members also deposited a lot of items to sell at the market. Even if it is still early, the price might change drastically, the items might have some new effects or new ways of using them. If you can spare the cash, I think it is better not to sell the items you have on hand."

"Yeah, understood, you are right."

"Also, we can't check things online anymore."

Marielle and Henrietta nods their head seriously.

When Elder Tales was still a game, Shiroe and the rest are in front of a monitor and can surf the net as they play the game, which is the usual way of playing this game.

Elder Tales is a huge and unbelievably complex game, the amount of information in the game world cannot be grasp by any single player.

The trusty tool supporting these players are the online guides.

The maps and features of each zone, how to get to a specific area, what monsters will appear, items, where can you meet which NPC.

Browsing these information as you play is the common way to play Elder Tales.

Although the online guides are not perfect, it will still contains popular zones or effective way to grind.

They will also note places that you should stay away from.

"We came this time to exchange information, and information will be important from now on. Everybody remembers that today is the update of the expansion pack right?"

"The Novasphere pioneers correct?"

"Yes, not only new zones, we will also need information... for old zones as well as the city. Right now we can't check online even if we run into any minute problems."

"That's right..."

The 4 of them then proceed to draw a map centered around Akiba based on what they still remember.

Even though there are tens of thousand of zones in the Japanese server, they also include all the hotel rooms, small ruins and the personal space rented out to players like this guild hall.

The 'field zones' including the forest, hills, the desolated suburbs and relics, as well as the relative fewer 'dungeon zones' that includes underground metro or gigantic building structures. But such zones still numbers in the thousands, even Shiroe can't be sure he remembers all of them clearly.

But Shiroe is still a 8 year veteran player, his knowledge of Elder Tales surpasses other players. Naotsugu was on hiatus for a while, but he still has deep knowledge on the zones in the early eras. The 2 of them compare their recollection with Marielle and Henrietta and drew a serviceable but imperfect map of how the zones are connected.

Writing the the zones and linking them with lines, Shiroe's group list out hundreds of zone names surrounding Akiba zone.

Although they don't know the necessity of investigating all the zones, but this is better than nothing.

"Thank you Shiroe and Naotsugu."

"I have been in your care all these while after all."

"This is nothing to worry about."

"You have been a big help, I know Shiroe is a good kid."

Marielle gives Shiroe a smile like a sunflower as she say this.

(Marielle's smile... deserves full marks. Whether I'm tired or frustrated, it is still full marks... I hope I can be the same as her.)

"I can't leave Marielle alone after all."

Although Shiroe thinks he has done his best, but his words is unable to express his feelings.

"What? Even Shiroe is saying this, I am finished. I am fated to be a brainless dumb woman, what should I do Henrietta?"

"Start by restraining your playful nature?"

Shiroe averts his gaze in a hurry.

"Want to touch my breast? Do you want to?"

Marielle tried tempting Naotsugu after seeing Shiroe ignore her. Naotsugu knocks her head without a word.

"You, you hit me?"

Shiroe thinks Marielle's action is a way for her to conceal her embarrassment, but Naotsugu seems to be doing the same thing in hindsight. It is interesting to see Naotsugu stop her.

"Don't you have the ability to reflect on your actions, you panties girl!"

"Don't say panties! And what is with you Naotsugu? Is my breast so bad? Are you treating me like a grandma?"

"I don't know for sure, but you are not at grandma level yet, we should be about the same age right?"

Naotsugu whispers his birth year to Henrietta who nods her head.

"Marielle is 3 years older than you."

"So I am at the grandma level afterall... an inferior product left on the shelf, that's why Naotsugu is turning into a bad boy and acting rebellious against me? My poor breast, already treated like wrinkled puddings..."

Marielle swings her legs on the couch to express her dissatisfaction.

(She is still obsess over this in this kind of situation, Marielle deserves my respect in another sense.)

She has this kind of energy the first day she is stuck here, it must be Marielle's nature. Shiroe is speechless.

But Naotsugu pat her head seeing Marielle throwing a tantrum. Although it looks like soothing a big dog, but Marielle is starting to calm down.

"It is about time to go, we have stayed quite a while... We will observe the situation outside some more."

After making his intent known to the disgruntled Marielle and Henrietta who has a serious face, Shiroe stood up.

"Yeah, we should go... sorry for intruding!"

It has been half a day since this tragedy happened, some people might have pull themselves together and battled with monsters once or twice.

Shiroe and Naotsugu bid farewell to the 2 still sitting on the couch.

"I apologize for my poor hospitality." Marielle says politely and Marielle  stops swinging her legs, stood up and says while looking straight at Shiroe and Naotsugu:

"Shiroe and Naotsugu... that, it might not be the right time to say this, but would you consider for your own convenience... Would you like to join us... that is to join Crescent Moon Alliance?"

Marielle says hesitantly unlike her nature.

"It is nothing important, I know that you don't feel comfortable staying in a guild Shiroe, but in the current state of affairs, I think it would be helpful to join a guild. I think Naotsugu is also not in a guild... So I want to try asking."

Her troubled expression evolves into a face that wants to convince them.

From her voice, she didn't want to strengthen her guild by making use of Shiroe and Naotsugu, but out of her pure kindness.

"Our guild is very relax and won't tie you down alright? We won't do anything that irritates Shiroe. The young ones here also challenged dungeons together with Shiroe before right? Like the underground of Shinshuku or Nakasu commercial building. I don't know why Shiroe has not joined any guild yet, but feel that our Crescent Moon Alliance... is a comfortable place to reside in. What do both of you think...?"

Marielle is not sure how to interpret Shiroe's silence and added these words while gesturing with her hands. Her smooth green hair swaying on her white healer robes, looks like her way of showing concern in Shiroe's eyes.

"..."

Naotsugu looks at Shiroe in silence.

These eyes are saying 'it is up to you'. To stay here or continue to roam freely, that is up to you to decide. Naotsugu express this to Shiroe.

Shiroe is not in middle school anymore.

Even though he still has misgivings for being used like a piece of equipment, he is able to let it go. But a feeling he is unable to describe in words is hindering Shiroe's decision.

"Sorry Marielle, but I can't yet."

"So that's how it is... yeah, it can't be helped then."

Marielle has an expression of regret for an instance but smile as usual straight after. Her smile is as cheerful as a sunflower, giving Shiroe a sensation of salvation.

If they can go back to the original world, if they receive the miracles of god or due to some coincidence...

If Shiroe walk pass her in the streets, he is confident he will know it is Marielle.

Her healer robes, that full head of smooth hair, these are all equipment for the 3D models of elder Tales. But Mareille's smile belong to Marielle alone, no one else can emulate her.

It is not a smile the game engine can recreate anyway.

"Just tell us if you need anything, we will be happy to help."

"That's right, just find me if you need a reliable guardian."

"Yeah. Shiroe, Naotsugu, thank you both. Contact me if you need anything as well."

Shiroe waves goodbye to both of them and hope to be as strong as Marielle himself.


Chapter 1 end