Log Horizon Book 3 chapter 2

Replace Sirechair with Sergead.


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


Name: Rundelhaus
Level: 23
Race: Human
Class: Sorcerer
HP: 1321
MP: 2109

Equipment

Apprentice magician robe
A high quality equipment for its level, but limited to users below level 30. It is an exclusive accessory for beginners. Giving the impression that one is not yet independent, Rundelhaus wish to upgrade this equipment soon.
Feather Ring
Bestow magic of feather weight, reducing the weight of items you are carrying and increasing the amount you can carry. Other accessories is more effective in increasing arm strength and carrying capacity, resulting in this item being sold cheaply in the market, it is very affordable for beginners.
Angel Brush
A magical brush that makes any hair or fur shiny and smooth, mainly used to increase trust and affection levels of mounts and pets, but Rundelhaus has no clue and loves to use it.


Chapter 2 Forest Ragranda

1
"Forest Ragranda?"

Tohya says.

Seems to be the name of a dungeon, Tohya ask, Naotsugu replies immediately :"It is not 'seems like a maze', it is a maze, don't be daft."

The sky that were light purple have turned deep blue, the school that shelters them is illuminated by several camp fires on the field.

Tonight they are celebrating with a BBQ party for reaching the campsite.

The 60 odd participants gathers in the school yard to enjoy their dinner.

It is Summer time in August.

The sweltering heat from the sun in the day is still trapped in the ground and is dissipating slowly. But the dry wind in the night feels comfortable to the skin. It is bearable even if you sweat.

And the food is top class.

Nyanta's dishes are always delicious, eating it together with the big group is also a nice feeling. Tohya has always like this type of atmosphere, remembering visiting the temple fair and eating the snacks from the street shops. He recall his sister Minori throwing a tantrum as well.

Minori is busy handing out beverages to everyone, but she came over when she see Tohya wave at her, asking him what is the matter.

"Minori, that is, I heard we will be going to a dungeon. You know that?"

"Ah? Dungeon?"

Minori is just as surprised as Tohya was.

The training camp last for 3 weeks, they expected to have live battle training, but never thought that they will be raiding a dungeon.

"I'm going too?" Naotsugu nod at Minori's question.

"I know this is a bit too heavy a burden on Minori, but rather than assigning you to a different group, wouldn't you feel better if you party together with Tohya, in case anything happens?"

"Of course."

Tohya nods repeatedly. He and Minori are twins.

Even though Minori is the elder sister by time of birth, Tohya doesn't see his sister as a guardian, but feels strongly that 'I am a boy, sister is a girl'. In that case, even if he is not on the level of being Minori's guardian, Tohya still thinks he should protect his sister.

They have been partners since coming to this world, so it will be better if they party together. And if his sister falls into any dangers when they are apart, and he is not there for her... Tohya is unable to imagine that.

"You are right."

Seems like the sister feels the same, and nods in agreement.

"We can assign Minori to the beach group, but for the sake of the future, it will be good to experience raiding a dungeon nya."

Chief Nyanta approaches with a rectangular tray filled with grilled Japanese horse mackerel as he speaks.

"What do you mean by the beach group?"

Chief Nyanta explains in detail.

The beginners varies in levels.

The policy of this summer training camp is to use the school as a campsite, and conduct training courses with different groups based on their abilities.


For very low levels... players less than level 20, they will be farming wild live around the campus, or battling Ascot crabs at the beach. There are healers camp leaders with the group, so it is very safe in accumulating EXP.

But the battles will be 1 on 1, so they won't be forming parties. The beginners need to understand the skill of their class, what they can do, and what they excel in. They won't be able to work well with others until they grasp their own abilities, so this stage will be solo training.

Actually, the campers including Minori has already 'train' at the beach in the day, and they were dragged there by Marielle. But in the end they changed into their swimsuits and played at the beach all day, Minori has already did some reflection on this.

They left setting up camp and moving of goods to the men, and just enjoyed this vacation activity in the confusion.

She even played beach volleyball with the girls she knew from Crescent moon alliance and Marielle who cheered loudly "Wah, this is so much fun! I am so happy! Summer should be like this right? It has to be swimsuits right? This is great!". Marielle is a scary influence on the others

Her bomb shell body is also scary, which made Minori embarrassed about her childish swimsuit. But even if she tried to dress maturely, it will also make her embarrassed.


Adventurers of Level 20-35 will be forming teams for battle practices, which will be conducted either indoors or outside.  Outdoor training will be conducted at the 'Caminash water way'.

Indoor training will be in the Ragranda forest that Tohya just heard of. The dungeon is situated in direction of the forested area of the peninsula, about half a day journey. The raid will take several days to complete, so it is the toughest training in a sense.

There are only a handful of players above level 36, so they are doing individual training with the high level camp leaders as mentors on campus. The goal is to let everyone reach level 40.


Tohya is level 29, and work as a tank during his time in Hamelin's farming group, so he is quite good in battles.

The underground ruins known as Ragranda forest, with enemies of various levels, is suitable for players between level 20 to 35 to challenge. It should be tough for Tohya who is right in the midpoint at level 29.

Tohya's heart burn with passion when he think about this.

On the other hand, sister Minori is level 21, her subclass tailor is level 32, much higher than Tohya's subclass. But her subclass is useless in battles. Minori's level puts her at an disadvantage, and Tohya is determined to protect her.

"There will be further briefings before we start the training nya. Level 29 and 21 will not affect the team balance too much, use the innate understanding between twins to make up for it in battle and you will be fine nya."

Chief Nyanta sprinkle squeeze some tangerine juice onto the grilled Japanese horse mackerel before digging in, he is probably done with cooking for the day. He pour some wine into a bowl, and drinks to his heart's content.

"So that's it, dungeons... my fighting spirit is burning!"

Tohya is unable to hold back his anticipation.

When Tohya was with Hamelin, he had fought with monster to farm before, but because of the distance and their team power balance, he have never been to a dungeon before.

Elder Tale dungeons is not a term for an underground prison. It is also use for ruins, castles, forts, towers, Shrines, caves and many others.

It means 'An enclosed place where you can fight monsters'.

Dungeons are usually ruins or remnants of magical culture from ancient times or a naturally formed cavern. These ruins are separated into zones which is the nest of wild creatures, and it is easy to see the path to the next area. It provides a lot of benefit to the defending side, and have a high 'requirement' in order to complete it.

The 'requirement' here is from the monster's perspective

Disregarding the intentions of the builders and original occupiers, most dungeons end up becoming a dwelling for monsters. Demihumans who possess some intelligence like 'Orcs', 'Goblins' and 'Ratmen' set up forts to use as a base. Beasts like 'Owlbears' and 'Mutant Dragonoids' simply want to use the area as a nest, like bears in a cave.

Everyone also knows that high level undead and dragons are one of the few high class type with high intelligence, and they will use challenging dungeons to hide their treasures.

Tohya have never formally fought in dungeons before, but he have joined Log Horizon for 2 months. In his time in the guild house, he is already good friends with Naotsugu and Nyanta. They will talk about their vast battle experience in Elder tale, so he have accumulated a lot of knowledge on dungeons.


(Mr Naotsugu said the difficulty of dungeon battles is incomparible to battles in the wild!)

Tohya is eager to try.

Naotsugu is Tohya's teacher right now.

Shiroe is Tohya's benefactor and instructor, but in terms of melee techniques and tanking skills he can't compare to Naotsugu. Even so, Shiroe definitely possessed enough knowledge and can give Tohya various tips.

But Log Horizon has an excellent vanguard in Naotsugu, his experience in Elder tale is comparable to Shiroe, his battle experience is also top class in the whole server. As advised by Shiroe, Tohya starts learning from his fellow warrior class guild member Naotsugu.

Tohya also likes Naotsugu, almost as much as he likes Shiroe.

Naotsugu is friendly, and you won't feel any age gap with him. He is a reliable good guy, Tohya thinks all man should be strong like him.

Tohya who has been instructed by Naotsugu is confident in challenging any battles.

...I will be changing dungeons sooner or later, this is just a step on my path to becoming an independent adventurer, saying he have no ambition is a lie.

"Alright, Minori! Let's go! Tomorrow we will be challenging Ragranda forest!"

"I can't stand this, Tohya... I will definitely catch up to your level!"

Minori seems determined as well, as she looks at Tohya confidently.

They bump their fist, a greeting they had since young.

Under the night sky of  Sand Leaf zone and the crackling sound of the camp fire in the school campus, the beginners is fill with anticipation and determination for the training that starts tomorrow.



2

The next morning, Minori's group headed towards the central hilly region of Sand Leaf peninsula.

There are no treacherous mountains in the in the peninsula. On the contrary, it is filled with hills of varying sizes, some as small as a pond, others as big as a lake. There are water flowing everywhere, the clear streams converging into the Sand leaf river, or directly into the sea.

Compared to the old world, It is less than a hundred km away from Tokyo, but in Elder Tale, the atmosphere is like a kingdom of nature.

On their way here they have seen oriole, white face sparrows, pied kingfishers, birds that you can see in the old world. They also saw some deer. In the Japanese server zones, wild life like this can be seen everywhere.

The trees are also reproducing virally, even though there are no mysterious ancient trees found in Akiba here, there are many of them with trunks that Tohya and Minori cannot hug even if they work together. And there are thousands of them, all pointing straight up into the sky. Everyone is moved by this scenery.

The twins grew up in Tokyo.

They have never been so impressed and stunned by the power of nature.

Minori is speechless, while Tohya kept repeating the word "Amazing!"

(The vocabulary of my brother is so limited, I feel embarrassed as his sister.)

This is part of Minori's true feelings, but the other part of her is happy to see her brothers pure display of surprise and joy.

After hiking along the hill for quite some time, the group reached a plaza which was made by clearing away the trees. Sweeping away the decaying leaves with your feet, you can see stone slates covering the ground. There is a Torii with its color faded after many years of exposure to the elements.

This seems to be a shrine around here.

The 14 people in the group dismounts and gather in the plaza, they have been traveling from the school since dawn, and it is already noon when they arrive.

Even though they rested a few times on their way here, Minori didn't expect they need so much effort to travel in the hills.

In the center of the group is Naotsugu, Nyanta and a cleric sent from the black sword knights, Rezarikku.

Nyanta points at the large cavern entrance that everyone can see.

"That is Ragranda forest nya, but the inside is very spacious... To put it simply, if you take the right at the first T junction, the route will be easier. Going left will lead to a more challenging area nya."

The beginners look at the giant cave entrance and gulped.

Even without Nyanta pointing it out, once they reached the plaza, their gaze are all focused at the entrance that is like a house made of boulders.

Vines entangles the edge of the entrance, there are old and crumbling straw ropes used to exorcist spirits hanging at the entrance, but there are no holy feelings here at all. There is only a rotting smell, nd the air can only be described as miasma.

"Ah, there might be small demon beast inside, but the rest should be undead type."

Naotsugu warn the campers.

Undead type.

They are not fully dead for various reasons, or they still linger in this world because of evil reasons like curses. Their source of power from spirits, known as undead type monsters.

The most common monsters of that type would be skeletons and zombies, but also includes monster that have no physical bodies like banshees.

"This is a camp to train up your battle powers nya, 'knowing your own limits' is also a part of your battle power nya, you have to consider your retreat route at all times, and practice your judgment on when to come out nya."

"That's right, you must treasure your life."

Nyanta and  Naotsugu reminds them.

"I will be setting up camp here with Mr Naotsugu and Mr Nyanta and wait for your return. We will be camping at this plaza, and will challenging the dungeon every day. You don't need to clear it in one day. You can recover your strength once you return to camp, you can relax here."

Rezarikku looks strict, but he seems to be a caring person. His words assured the campers.


"Eh, teacher is not coming?"

Tohya shouts, Naotsugu nods with a smile.

"Of course, this is a training for beginners. If experienced players tag along, that won't be training right? You are a vanguard as well, so you should understand that right? If I am the tank, you won't be able to learn anything."

When he put it that way, it makes sense. But Minori is still worried.

Minori trust Tohya, she even heard that he is an excellent tank (for beginners). What she is worried about is her healing abilities.

With Tohya holding down a key position, if he does not have the support of healers, he won't be able to endure the attacks for long.

But since their instructors Naotsugu and Nyanta say so, Minori has no objections. They assign them the task because they believe in their abilities, so the twins should respond by living up to their expectations.

The other beginners also has a worried expression, but all of them nod their head with the similar thought to Minori.


Next is party assignment.

The dungeon has two halves, and the beginners are separated according to their strengths as well. The twins are in the weaker team, as the group split into two as the cleric read out their names.

The weaker party have 5 people.

The maximum number in a party is 6, so this is not an optimal situation. But since there are 11 beginners, this cannot be helped.


The crucial vanguard position with the duty of attracting and intercepting the enemies attack is filled by Tohya, Minori's twin brother. He is a samurai, level 29.

In the central position is Itsuzu, a slender and tall bard. She have been friends with Minori since their time in Hamelin, and is now in Crescent moon alliance. She is a bubbly girl with freckles, wielding a 2 handed spear that is rare for a bard. She is 3 years older than Minori, a high school girl in the real world, level 24.

There are 3 people in the rear guard.

First is a young sorcerer, Rundelhaus. He wears a flashy robe, and is very prominent with his snobbish behavior, a solo player not in any guild, level 23.

Next is the druid Serara. When Minori escaped from Hamelin, Serara took care of her. They found out their levels are close after talking, and they became friends.

Serara is also in high school, so her age is closer to Itsuzu. She seems to have a crush on Nyanta, always sticking close to him on the ride here, level 25.

Minori herself is a Kannagi in the healer class, level 21, the weakest in the party. Shiroe taught them 'battle has nothing to do with levels', but it still make Minori uneasy.

The only redeeming point is that Serara the druid is in the same party, if Minori's healing is not enough, Serara can pitch in as well.

(Chief Nyanta must have considered this when assigning the parties.)


"Well then, let's begin the 15 minutes strategy session."

Nyanta says "Begin!" and clap his hand, ending his instruction for the group.

Minori's party gathers in confusion.

If they look to the other side, the party that is 5 levels higher than them on average is also having a discussion in a circle.


"Eh...What should we talk about?"

Tohya ask the group.

"Even if you say that..."

Itsuzu look at the rest with a frown.

"Hmmm, so that is to say, everyone, let's do our best right?"

Rundelhaus says confidently holding his 2 handed staff. This youth have blond hair and green eyes, similar to a prince in fairy tales. In Minori's eyes, his 'rich young master' aura is a bit too strong.

"That is...."

"Correct! You are right! Next will be the battlefield, it's a dungeon right? Dungeon! Fighting spirit is the most important!"

Tohya cut off Minori's words and shake both of Rundelhaus' hand strongly.

"That's right! You understand! Spirit is the most important, even though being elegant and graceful is important, but the essence of a man is spirit and passion!"

Rundelhaus seems very happy to have Tohya's support, and they became fast friends out of the blue.

(But, I think we should discuss something like formation and tactics...)

"That's it, let's work hard together! We are comrades that will be grinding in the dungeon for a whole week after all!"

Itsuki has a smile over her freckled face.

(I can't say it in this atmosphere...)

Minori peek to her side, Serara also has a troubled expression. She smile to reassure her, and she smile in return, which put Minori at ease.

As Minori's party continues to interact, the stronger party starts to move into Ragranda forest. Minori notice this when Nyanta shouts:"Work hard in your battles nya!"

Minori clench her fists hard.

After leaving Hamelin for 2 months, Minori is not completely useless. Hamelin force her to take up the subclass tailor, which she is unfamiliar with. She abandoned her subclass training and work on leveling up together with Tohya under the guidance of Shiroe's group.

After much hard work, Minori raised from level 12 to 21, but Shiroe warns them about the cons of only grinding levels, so the overall training is progressing slowly.

All their battles so far has been under the supervision of a high level guild member.

But even though they set up a camp outside to support them, they have to party by themselves to explore the dungeons and defeat their enemies, so it is normal for them to feel nervous.


Minori is not afraid of losing.

She is afraid of doing some embarrassing actions in front of the group.

When she think she might make all the teaching and efforts put in by Shiroe's group, her knees will be like jelly, unable to walk properly.

"Minori, are you okay nya?"

Someone talk to her suddenly, making Minori lift her head in a shock. Nyanta is in front of her with his usual eyes in a slit and kind face. This face with a hint of doubt, made Minori shake her head and say "It's nothing".

Naotsugu looks at this scene and comments "Minori is such a worrywart" and laugh softly.

"Listen, if you encounter any trouble, remember to move forward. Not your legs, but your hearts, can you promise me that?"

Naotsugu pat Minori's head, approaches the other party members and speak to them .

Minori looks at his back.

Naotsugu and Nyanta is encouraging and instructing her team mates, Serara seems so grateful that she might tackle him in a hug. Rundelhaus's arrogance is obvious, Tohya promise to bring back a souveniour, Itsuzu bows in gratitude.

"Alright, you are lagging a bit too much from the other team, time to go! Work hard!"

And so, Minori's party challenge a dungeon for the first time.



3

The morning after the banquet, Shiroe's group enjoy their breakfast in a roomy terrace.

The terrace the ambassador team gathered in has all sorts of plants, the crystal atrium reflects the bright summer sun.

This terrace is about the size of a small scale green house, with 3 dining tables, a very luxurious place.

The dishes are very traditional, freshly baked bread, sunny side up eggs, cheese, ham, jam, honey and butter. There is also fruits and vegetable salad platter and various beverages, everything is decorated elegantly.

Shiroe just need raw eggs with rice for breakfast, but there is nothing to complain about for this breakfast. According to production guild guild master Michitaka, this is "hmmm... quite normal".

Akiba's standard for food has been progressing rapidly for the past 2 months. They is even beef bowl available now through unknown methods, surprising Shiroe.

Processed seasoning like Soy sauce and miso soup has also debut in the form of 'imitation version'. The news is that fermentation and processing time can take up to years for it to have proper taste, the 'imitation version' skipped several process and is an inferior product. But to the people who has grown accustomed to the tasteless food of days past, this is a joyful taste.


"Eh, my lord, pass me the jam please."

Akatsuki ask Shiroe while holding a piece of bread with her petite mouth. Her sense of 'ninja loyalty' seems to differ to differ from the common world. Apart from addressing Shiroe as lord, the two of them has a normal relationship.

"Akatsuki chan, you need to eat the salad too, or your skin will turn bad."

Henrietta is looking for ways to interact with Akatsuki, but Akatsuki lift herself off the chair, getting ready to escape.

"Such a comfortable morning!"

Just as Michitaka said, the blue of the morning sky is spectacularly beautiful.

Enclosed by glass wall, there is no wind in the terrace, but it is cool here with several water ways in the area. There is no heat from the summer here, only the bright sunlight.

"That's right."

Berserker Crusty is calmly sipping his tea. The other members also help themselves to breakfast. When they first arrive at the terrace, the tables were much further apart, and there is an obvious difference in quality for each table.

This should be the difference in treatment for nobles and servants.

But the group is not bothered by this, they pulled the tables closer and pass the bread basket around freely, picking the ones they prefer. If there is not enough they can just take more from their bags, there are already people who are drinking their own green and thick beverages.

"But this is luxurious, I did expect them to arrange our accommodation, but not this level of service."

Henrietta stopped when she reach this point of her speech.

After the banquet ended, the group was led to their living abodes, but instead of rooms, it should be described as zones.

Situated on the south east corner of the palace of this floor, there are twenty rooms. There is also a small meeting room, the terrace they are in, showers, recreation room, chatting room and several rooms for receiving guests.

"But if this is the case...Hmmm."

"What is the matter Mr Shiroe?"

Michitaka enquired.

"Mr Michitaka, do we have a chef here?"

"Of course, what's the issue?"

"I think we should get more chefs and people to supply food, the supporting staff need to be capable, between 3-6 people."

"Indeed."

Crusty nods at Shiroe's request.

"What is the problem? They won't poison us right?"

Shiroe calms Michitaka down.

"No, the reason why they arranged such a big place for us... is in anticipation that we would need to entertain guests as well. I have always felt that 10 days is too long, but I understand now. The meetings will be held in several sessions, but there will be many side meetings and invitations to talk, these are known as tea parties.

"That should be what is happening. I was invited to many tea parties the night of the banquet."

"Now you mention it, so was I."

"But I changed the topic tactfully."

Crusty concludes with a cold expression. But in this situation, they will be receiving a lot more tea party invitations, and will be forced to attend some, so Shiroe think it is best to be prepared.

"I wonder what today's meeting schedule will be like... Hey, Kayou."

"Here boss."

Michitaka call for his aide from his guild, instructing the youth Kayou to find out today's meeting schedule, and also reminds him to collect intelligence.

After Kayou left energetically, Shiroe, Michitaka and Crusty continue to drink their tea. There is only the 3 of them at this table, but the other table is within earshot, so they can discuss things together.

"...seems like this is more complicated then expected."

Crusty and Shiroe nods to acknowledge Michitaka's point.

'League of Freedom Cities Eastal' is formed by 24 nobles family, 25 if you include the round table council. They are spread all across rast Japan, governing their own territory. The ones that is larger in scale have a citadel city at most, supported by surrounding farms and a few villages.

Duke Sergead's Maihama capital is the largest among the nobles, but only has a population of 30,000 at most.

Of the 3 ladies who debut last night, one is Marquis Racetar's daughter Pulletan from Owly, the other is the granddaughter of liberty city Yanton's Lord Sigil. But these two city has a population of around 10,000, considered mid size among the nobles.

If you think about this you will understand Akiba with 15,000 adventurers and total population of 20,000, is a force to reckon with. Ignore the fact of the individual battle prowess of adventurers, the scale of the city itself ranks among the top 5 in the 'League of Freedom Cities Eastal'.

Other then this, there are countless small scale villages in the east Japan region which not under the control or protection of any nobles.

These independent villages did not revolt against the lords. In this world where monsters roam freely, they yearn to be part of the nobles territory to be protected. But the nobles will decline with the reason 'it is too far from the main city' and not send any soldiers to guard them.

The duties of nobles is to ensure the safety of the citizens and territory. If you view it from an extreme point, taxes is the price they pay for protection.

There are also criminals within their territory, and there are also incidents of monster attacks. But these incidents is different from 'being unable to organize defensive forces'.

If it a distance that can be covered in a day of riding, the nobles will be able to send troops to protect these villages. But any further they will need to station an army camp there.

In this fantasy world, traveling takes more time then you can imagine, increasing the mobility of a small group of soldiers in order to expand their protection range is impossible to execute.

There are also many farmers who are independent and prefer to not deal with nobles. If the noble is able to increase their armed forces cheaply, there will be a possibility of an increase in taxes.

(Just gaining intelligence on this is worth our time here.)

The nobles also knows about the existence of adventurers.

Since the time when Elder Tale was just a game, there are many quest involving the protection of villages, escorting travelers and defeating groups of monsters because of the nobles.

Similar to hiring mercenaries, they can put up job request for adventurers that normal soldiers when have the time to handle, or even outsource the soldiers job to them to free up resources for their soldiers to fight elsewhere.

The pioneer villages not under the nobles jurisdiction will also send request to adventurers when they are attack by monsters or demihumans.

After the Apocalypse, many players including Shiroe spent the majority of their time trying to grasp the situation and to survive. They also train to learn how to use their skills here. These pioneer villages definitely need to aid of adventurers more. With Akiba taking the lead, adventurers everywhere is also having a revolution in technology, the nobles know about this as well.

"Seems like they want to recruit us, I can understand their feelings."

Michitaka adds honey to his tea as he speaks.

"Now I understand Shiroe's speech... to build relations with the people of the land right? We need to handle this part delicately, so Akiba won't be fazed by the situation. I wonder what kind of divisive schemes they have up their sleeves."

"It is too early to let down our guard, it is highly possible they are just starting their divisive plots."

Shiroe replies in a low voice.

Even if it is a bit delusional, his keen observation has already considered several negative way this could play out.

"The topic of division can be dealt with later, the important thing in the current phase is to understand their methods and operation philosophy, we need to start from there."

"That's right... What are your views, Shiroe?"

Shiroe summarize the situation he understands from their conversations last night.

"I think the intent of the nobles is quite obvious. They wanted to understand the ambition of the round table council at the beginning, and to observe how barbaric we are. But we have cleared most of their worries in last night's banquet, seeing us as intelligent and reasonable enough to communicate with. Their next step is recruitment, they were planning to bestow a title of nobility on Mr Crusty, there is no cons in doing that. If they have a cat, they need to tie a bell on its neck, the noble is still moving in consensus up til this point. There are some who object to this, but they will settle such disputes afterwards, prioritizing on the recruitment plan."

When Shiroe reach this point of his speech, The crystal door at the entrance of the terrace opens, Kayou of Oceanic systems is back. He is successful in obtaining the information, and with the permission of Michitaka, he give his report.

"The official news will be made in the afternoon, but the nobles meeting appears to have been cancelled.

Crusty nod curtly, Michitaka signal Kayou to continue.

"I ask the other employees... This palace are managed by them all year long....This seems to be the usual practice of the annual noble meetings. After starting with a banquet, there will be lunch sessions, tea parties, night parties and dinner gatherings, so the nobles brings along many attendants. Our numbers and luggage are small by comparison, that's why we have so much empty rooms. There will be nobles meeting in the last few days where they will raise agenda they have arranged before hand, which will decided by a majority vote speedily.

Shiroe nods in agreement.

Thinking about it carefully, even if there are 24 members, their power and scale differs widely. Compared to holding a series of meeting to vote and discuss any dissenting opinions, dealing with each other privately and forming alliance and compromise is a smoother way of communication. In Japan this is known as 'consultation', it is not an special idea.

"Alright, the schedule for the next few days is obvious, Akiba has powerful military capabilities, the nobles understand this as well. All who challenge us one on one will be seeking their own destruction, so they will be careful in contacting us. But if they are successful in getting on good terms with the round table council, it will have many advantages for them in this world. As mentioned by Mr Crusty and Mr Michitaka, their invitation for meetings will increase. Request for Akiba's battle prowess, finance, talents, inventions and tools will be overwhelming. We need to clear this problematic barrier in this phase of negotiations."

"So we need to set a basic policy for future talks... Hmmm..."

Shiroe's analysis made Michitaka frown, this is a troublesome issue indeed.


"From the perspective of the round table council, we will be fine declining all invitations. But both battle guilds and production guilds might want to accept some of their request. Other then guilds, we need to consider if individual players want to accept these request too. We shouldn't handle all the details involved. For instance, even if we restrict exporting goods from Akiba to other cities, we won't be able to lock down the market anyway. The same goes for battle guilds. If the request is for 5000 mercenaries, that will be too much for us, and we can decline them. But if they just want to hire a few adventurers, even if we restrict it, it will be useless if the players are okay with it."

"This part should be correct."

Crusty nod in reply.

The governing system in Akiba has been set up after much effort. After 2 months of practice, a lot of adventurers has gotten use to fighting in the alternate world, a support system with food as its core has also been built over time.

The next craze will be world exploration, the plan to investigate the fairy rings should be underway. With this, there will be more chance for each guild to receive request, which should ensure their freedom in this aspect.

"Regarding the the outflow of our resources, if the scale is too big, we might have to consider export tax...Miss Henrietta, what are your views regarding this?"

"....Hmmm, my expertise is not in finance, so I cannot say for certain...I am just a normal accountant anyway. But from the current phase, I think Akiba is not a first class production city, and we are unable to acquire farm stocks and fisheries in bulk. Regarding the problems associated with resource outflow, importation is not the problem, there will be problems is we stop importation... As for exports, considering the transport ability of this world, we should be concerned about items that are small in numbers but have large impacts. There is a more serious problem, that is loss of technology and talents associated with them."

Henrietta adjust her glasses as she speaks.

Shiroe considers her words momentarily and continues.

"Yes, this is also a pressing matter... After this diplomatic visit is over, the round table council will need to discuss this. But I don't think we can stonewall the nobles about everything, so we should announce that the round table council have set up a department of foreign affairs, in charge of battle assignments, provision of skills and exports. Noble will just need to submit an official request to the department, we will reply after discussion.. I think this process will be more suitable. After this visit, we will really need to set up this department, but if it is jobs that are more common in nature, we can set up an administration system. For example, we receive a request to defeat 100 goblins in the hills. This job will be assigned to a battle guild registered with the foreign affairs department. It is the same for the corporate side, if there is an order for 200 sets of cutlery, it can be handled by the department and delegate it to a guild. If the request is beyond the capacity of a small guild, it will be escalated to the round table council to handle. How do everyone feel about this?"

Shiroe's concept is based on using the department of foreign affairs to handle quest systems just like the old days.

"This proposal is fine."

"I think this very adequate, this part should be fine for the 3 of us to decide. We can use telepathy to report to the others later."

Michitaka and Crusty nod in agreement.

"But I think the nobles won't be satisfied with this. If they cannot convince the round table council as a group, they would want to get closer to the representatives of Oceanic systems or D.D.D. The nobles is planning to form secret pacts during this period, and for us... we can only deal with them on the spot, be careful not to let them grab your weak spots."

Shiroe concludes.

Shiroe is unable to come up with a strategy on the whole. They will need to make judgement calls on the spot. Even if he can come up with a policy, he is unable to oversee the individual battles.


"This part will be our responsibility."

Crusty nod slowly. As expected of the guild master of a large guild, his calm and demeanor gives off the aura of a natural born leader.

"Avoid making contracts carelessly, and try to get intelligence from them, correct?"

"Yes, we should move along this line."

Henrietta agrees with Michitaka's words.

The other members also joined in the debate, setting up counter strategies for some common scenarios. They are also expecting bribery and secret dealings. After confirming that they should deal in secret as much as possible, they concluded the breakfast session.



4

Raynesia's mood is akin to low altitude flying.

Low altitude flying is the proper term, but her heart has in fact fallen down a cliff. The reason why she didn't use the term fell down a cliff is because she is the eastern region's most powerful noble, Sergead's granddaughter.

Simply put, her position does not allow her to sulk in her room.

'Sulk to the bottom of a cliff' sounds so gloomy that she can't move, but her handmaid follows her like a shadow, with no regards to her wants, she is forced to change her clothes every morning and attend various events.

If you consider this, instead of being depress to a fixed position like the bottom of the cliff, her feelings is is still moving like low altitude flying. But her heart feels she is being drag all around the place.

"Qoo..."

She sigh softly.

This is one of the many empty gardens in  the 'Ancient palace of eternal frost', the time is shortly after noon. She force her maid to let her be alone here for a while.

There are no tea parties for the afternoon, but there is a dinner gathering after sunset. She need to play host along with grandfather Duke Sergead, father Fernile, mother Seriah, to several nobles and entertain them. It is not difficult and doesn't take much effort, but it makes her heart feels heavy.

She lean lazily on the table, her forehead touching the cool marble.

Nothing in particular happened that made her sad.

This is just her nature, cowardly, afraid of troubles, always frowning and thinking about useless things, pessimistic and has no energy, this is how she sees herself.

If there is no one to bother her, she will just hide in a corner peacefully, that is how she is. Instead of saying she is gloomy, a better description is she critically lack a cheerful side. Even though it is wrong to say this about yourself, she feels that others won't want to socialize with someone like her.

Speaking of Raynesia's appearance, she have long silver hair and a slender neck, a frail and skinny beautiful young lady. The corner of her greyish green eyes droops down slightly, seems to give a hint of mysterious sadness. Her breast and body is not well developed, but it is enough to see her as a girl. If there are men who prefer a body type like hers, they will definitely see her as a beauty.

(Ah.)

Even so, she looks very sloppy the way she lie over the table.

Others will praise her beauty, and she is aware of it too.

But she feel that half of it is because of her grandfather duke Sergead, 40% is because she showers every day and take cares of her hair and put on makeup, anybody can be like her... In other words, her beauty stems from the power of the nobles, making her feel a sense of guilt.

The 10% she attribute to her feeling 'maybe I am pretty cute after all'. But if she hear others describe her as 'What a dreamy princess' or 'cultured lady with a sense of sorrow', she will snap out of it and face reality.

(Not full of sorrow, I'm just gloomy. Not a cultured lady, I'm just not energetic... that is all...)

As she think like this, she give in to her masochistic feelings and lies down on the table. She spends every day thinking about this kind of things, sees herself as a complicated and troublesome person. But it can't be help if she don't change her nature.

"An army is lucky to have a commander like you, the capabilities can rival those of the 'knights of the east'.

"...No, our forces are not that powerful, we still have many issues with battle readiness to fine tune."

The approaching steps and conversation seems to be coming from nobles.

A middle aged man sounds a bit panicky, the other young man seems stable and calm.

Raynesia sit up straight in an instance when she heard the sound.

In this palace filled with schemes and treachery, women of clan Corwen cannot display weakness. Raynesia is a grumpy girl  with no energy, but she is still willing to protect her family's pride.

Please visit my territory if you have the time, I have fine wine at my place. It is almost night, want to have a drink together?"

"Hmm, drinking... I am very sorry."

Several people appears in the corner of the rose garden and walk in this direction.

The two men in front, the left is the lord of Tsukuba Marquis Chilliwar. Tsukuba has an influential university and he is respected for his efforts in governing his lands. Behind him seems to be the Marquis' attendants and maids.

On the other hand, the young man who is walking beside the Marquis... No, he doesn't look like a knight.

His tidy short hair and spectacles made him look intelligent. His strong body and crisp movements is a sign of a man of action in the battlefield. Simply strolling is enough to feel an air of intimidation about him, he has the demeanor of a young general.

(That is... the one I saw yesterday...)

Raynesia sees a flash of memory.

She remember her father saying that he is one of the adventurers, but they were not introduced. She recalls her grandfather chat with him for a long time. Father describes him as "No matter good or bad, they will be the eye of the storm of 'League of Freedom Cities Eastal'".

The people passing by is quite a distance from Raynesia.

Raynesia hopes that they will see her as 'a princess enjoying tea in a pavilion inside the garden'. This made Raynesia relax, she just need to nod her head and greet them to avoid any troubles.

But maybe it is a coincidence, her eyes met with the young man who looks like a knight. Raynesia instinctively nod to greet him, showing a face that the young knights in the city describes as 'a smile akin to a flower in the rain'. This is a popular face, and can be used on many occasions, a tool that Raynesia utilize frequently.

The young knight stop in his tracks and smile... Or appears to. The reflection of the sun from his spectacles made it hard to see his face.

"Marquis Chilliwar, I apologize, but I have a prior engagement."

"And who might you be meeting... Eh, it is princess Raynesia!"

This man walk towards Raynesia slowly. Raynesia is troubled, or rather, her face is cramping up.

The knight approach steadily and with no signs of hesitation, which convince Marquis Chilliwar it is true. His gaze switched between the knight and princess Raynesia for several time and says:"I shouldn't be so obtuse. Sir Crusty, let's improve our friendship some other time."

The knight known as Crusty turn at the entrance of the pavilion to bid Marquis Chilliwar farewell. After the Marquis is gone from sight, he entered the pavilion with Raynesia confused and frozen in place.

(Wah, he... he is tall...)

He should be taller than 190cm. Raynesia have seen burly knights in the city before, but this young knight is big not gentle, his face has a hint of sensibility, giving off a elegant feeling.

"I... I am from Maihama, a daughter of clan Corwen, my name is Raynesia. May I ask, your prior engagement... is with who?"

"Ah, I am Crusty, an adventurer."

After he says that, he took a seat diagonally away from Raynesia.

There are several fixed marble bench in the pavilion. They are covered in leather or has feather cushion on top. The marble table is made shorter than usual, a classy design suitable for drinking tea elegantly.

"The prior engagement I mentioned was just an excuse, if I made you feel troubled, I apologize..."

The young knight says without any guilt.

(That means... he is using me? But he doesn't look like a bad guy....)

Raynesia is unable to guess Crusty's intent, but if her father is right, this man is the eye of the storm for the 'League of Freedom Cities Eastal'. She has to be polite and nice to him. Raynesia waits for Crusty to continue like a elegant noble lady should.

"You are thinking 'I am so tired', correct?"

"Hm!"

Crusty's comment made Raynesia froze.

"Not only that, when our eyes first met, you were thinking "this is going to be trouble", right?"

"Eh!"

Raynesia is totally frozen now, while Crusty smile. His smile is sensible and gentle, but to Raynesia, they look like a devil's smile.

"Why...Why..."

"Why do I know? It's instinct, My kid sister back in town has the same attitude as you, so I can tell."

He says this with no signs of mischief, just stating the facts like the result of an experiment.

(...This, this, this, this man is a bad man!)

"It's not like that, kekeke..."

Raynesia maintains her elegant lady's smile, but her action is stiff like an unoiled machine.

"I won't eat you, there is no need to be nervous."

"Even if you say so, that is..."

"I have been chased around by the lords and nobles all morning, but since you are Duke Sergead's granddaughter, they will be hesitant to interrupt us. Is it convenient to chat with me?"

The truth is Raynesia is unwilling to.

Not only is this troublesome, it is also scary in a way.

This gentle young man is able to see through her, even seems to be able to read her mind. Raynesia feels that she cannot stand up to him right from the start.

If Raynesia is not a noblewoman, she would want to apologize:"I am very sorry, I will be careful from now on, please forgive me."...Even though she is not sure what she should be careful about, she just feel like saying this.

(But, the last time I have this feeling was when grandfather scold me that one time...)

"You are not very willing correct?"

"Hm!"

He saw through me again.

Raynesia wonders if this adventurer is a pyschic. Raynesia doesn't understand why his observation skills are so impressive, and she feels a little bit like crying. But Crusty maintains his gentleman demeanor with a smile on his face.

"Please don't mind me."

"Alright, would you like some tea..."

"Thank you for your hospitality."

Crusty nods in reply. Raynesia took out the tea set that was prepared beforehand, there is no other way now.

Her heart is heavy, not because she dislike him, she is just that way when she sees anyone. Anyway, even if she somehow manage to escape from this young adventurer, she would have to talk to other people this evening.

Compared to attending tea parties, or interacting with sons of other nobles akin to wedding interviews, killing time lazily in this pavilion is better.

This adventurer's instincts seem to be absurdly sharp. If that is the case, she won't need to act like a lady. Since she have been seen through, just like him see as much as he want.

Raynesia  prepares tea for 2, then rest her upper body on the marble table. Raynesia stop acting classy, and her skin is thick enough for her to act this way.


(Fufufu... be stunned by me.)

The granddaughter of a duke putting her whole forehead on the marble table and enjoying its cool temperature. Even though there is a man present she can ignore him. How can there such a luxurious thing in the world? Raynesia is certain there isn't any, hooray for solitude, hooray for ignoring people. I need to look people in the eye? Feed that to the dogs instead.

But after 1 minute, 2 minutes, Crusty just quietly enjoy his tea.

The chirps of the birds flows into her ears.

From the clear sound of the chirping, the bird should be on the tree in the garden, or is it bathing in the fountain?

(Anyway, this man is so cold.)

It is a normal knight, no, any normal gentleman, if they saw a young lady lying on the table, they will definite express their concern. If a lady says she is unwell, they will escort her back to her room and look for female attendants to take care of her. Depending on the situation, maybe even find a doctor or a curse removing mage.

But this young man Crusty is totally not acting this way.

"I am the most prominent person in the palace, if I announce that I am drinking tea with you, I would have an excuse to decline all activities or tea parties. Your parents will also praise you."

Crusty's word made Raynesia stop thinking.

As the meaning behind the word sink in, her face turns red. She feels fortunate to be lying on the marble table, even her parents have not seen her panic like this in recent years.

Embarrassment, shame, and a certain sweet sense of ease made her knees weak.

Crusty words lays out exactly why she should drink tea with him.

"I was just talking to myself, please don't mind me."

Raynesia is unable to respond, just stay down on the table with a beet red face.




5


Ragranda forest.

It is dark inside, but not as narrow as they thought.

The ceiling is 3-5 meters tall, the path is 3 meters wide. The wall is made of stone, and the ground is laid with granite slabs close together.

The air is dry and has a taste of mold.

"I will provide some light."

Rundelhaus chant the magic light spell, conjuring an orange red light source.

"Is it okay to shine some light? Won't he become a target?"

Itsuzu express her concern, but Rundelhaud says "there is no difference."

"Since the monsters are mostly undead type, they will be fine even in the darkness as they will detect us by our life force or with magic. Being pitch dark will benefit the them, so having a light is better."

Serara explains, and cast firefly for a light source.

Preparing multiple light source, that is one of the tactics in raiding dungeons. If the person casting the light source is defeated, they will lose the light and fall into darkness.

"Hmm, my light is brighter!"

Rundelhaus seems to not understand this concept, and cast another magic light to compete. Serara give a bitter smile and explain the idea to him.

Rundelhaus was hot headed in the beginning, but calms down and agrees after listening to the explanation. He says with a laugh:"So that is what this is about, it is not my light is too weak, I am an excellent mage, hahaha!"

This guy is unexpectedly frivolous.

Minori has this impression.

After a few bends in the path, they reach a room.

They stay on guard, peeking into the room from behind the door. After looking for a while, there is no movement, so the group went in carefully.

"This is..."

There is a gap somewhere in the room, dry sand covers the stony floor, with tracks of several people passing by, and bones scattered all over the place.

"Seems like the party before us fought with skeletons here."

Minori inspects the tracks on the floor and concludes. She can almost see what happened here.

The footprints everywhere, signs of things being dragged, white bones, these clues tell Minori about the battle that happened. It should have been over in less than a minute, an easy task. The monster near the entrance usually have lower levels and are easy to deal with.

"I guess there will be no enemies until we reach the T junction."

Tohya says and lead on.

The way he sniff the air with his nose is just like your average kid brother.

The group stop talking, and reach the T junction.

As expected, the footprints before them goes to the left.

"..."

Rundelhaus smirk in regret, Tohya nod in response as they look straight at the path to the left. Minori tilt her in confusion, the two of them seem to have come to a consensus.

"We will go this way today."

"That's right, I hope they don't think we want to take the route on the right."

Rundelhaus says in response to Tohya.

The party went right with a roar from Tohya, following this will be the main event, they are going to a place where they have to be very alert.

"I.. feel nervous."

"Right."

Minori lowers her voice as she talk to Serara besides her.

The inside is very quiet, so they is not much point in lowering their voice, since they can still be heard clearly.

But because of the darkness and pressure of the dungeon, Minori becomes afraid in this atmosphere, and her voice will become soft involuntarily.

"Eh!"

The first to notice something wrong is Tohya walking in front. He found a group of 4 skeletons approaching them from the other end of the path.

Tohya instinctively draw his blade and charge.

"Tohya!"

Minori stop him with a shout at the same time.

If Tohya charges into the enemy, the result will be the same as before.

Tohya also understand this. In the 2 months he spent in Log Horizon, Tohya has improved. He hold his sword with its tip at eye level, and swing with a roar.

His blade flashes.

A deep red shock wave shoots from the tip of the sword and hit a skeleton.

The impact did not cause much damage to the skeleton, but the squirming bone cracked slightly. They notice the party's existence and hastily approaches.

This skill is known as 'Vacuum slash'.

Warrior class players are not proficient with range attacks, as their role is to be tanks and endure the enemies onslaught. But they will be unable to handle certain situations. To balance this, they have a few skills with range attacks.

Samurai's 'Vacuum slash' is one such range attack. Compared to classes proficient in range attack, such as assassins's arrows and mage class's magic, the damage is minuscule. But it can attract the enemies attention without running into them, this skill is invaluable and convenient to warrior class this way.

This skill serve its function well. In the path illuminated by magic light source, the skeleton move towards Tohya in a creepy and smooth way.

3 of the skeleton have an axe, the other has a bow. The 4 of them seems to be rushing in together, but 5 meters away, the skeleton with the bow stopped.

Tohya took up a stance in the middle of the path, exposing himself to the attacks of the 3 skeleton. The 3 skeleton with axes surround Tohya from 3 sides and attack continuously. This is a mechanical movement devoid of emotion that is unique to undead types.

"Take this! Hahhhhh!"

Tohya counter attacks, slashing at all the skeletons in sequence. This is a samurai skill, a powerful technique that has a long cool down time, 'big whirlwind slash'.

The skeleton fell instantly. But they didn't fall in vain, as their attack hit Tohya in return, taking away 20% of Tohya's HP.

"Cleansing barrier!" "Heartbeat healing!"

Minori and Serara uses their unique healing spells, casting them on Tohya at the same time.

A barrier like a water mirror forms around Tohya. Minori is using damage intercepting magic, stopping attacks 15% of Tohya's maximum HP. Simply put, instead of suffering 20% damage, Tohya will only take 5% damage with the barrier in place.

Serara's heartbeat healing is like the strong pulse of a beating heart, regenerating Tohya's HP gradually over time. This long term HP recovery spell will activate every second over a period of 15 second, recovering 20% of the HP will take 10 seconds.

Tohya's defense is guaranteed by the support the two healers.

"I'm next! Take this!"

Rundelhaus conjured a ball of magma from the tips of his fingers.

"Lava ball!"

The lava bullet did not fly in a straight line.

It pierce through the first skeleton, bend at an angle before hitting another skeleton. The undead skeleton crumbles under the heat, with one shattering  and another catching fire.

Rundelhaus is a sorcerer, one of the mage class. In a way, it is a complete class.

They are known for their strong attack power.

Similar to assassins taking weapons attack to its limit, taking magical attacks to its limit will be sorcerers.

They can not like summoners that conjure creatures to do their bidding, or like enchanters who raise the potential of their allies.

Sorcerer uses primal and strong magic, turning their magic power directly into destructive powers. These destructive forces usually takes the form of fire, water or lightning, can be directed at the enemy to defeat them in an instance.

Sorcerer's attack power, along with assassins, are the peak of the 12 classes. Compared to assassins simply attacking with weapons, sorcerers can choose to attack base on the enemies type affinity, which many players feel is even better.

"Hmm? Ah? Woah!"

Rundelhaus shouts in surprise.

After the lava ball pierce the enemies, the tip of his staff shot out a rainbow beam, follows the path of the ball causing additional damage.

"That's great! It worked!"

Itsuzu gives a brilliant and sweet smile.

Bard has many support skills, which is a unique feature of the bard to many players. Their skill variety has a very wide range.

In terms of supporting allies, even enchanters does not match up to bards.

Itsuzu chose to activate the permanent status buff song 'Harmony carol' today. The effect of this permanent status buff song activates when the magic attacks of allies hits, and will automatically follow up with another attack.

"Impressive! This is... a bard's skill? Miss Itsuzu, my artistic and destructive magic has raise to a legendary level! Hahahaha! how beautiful, well done!"

This support seems to greatly raise Rundelhaus' morale.

He gives Itsuzu a thumbs up and a wink that she can almost hear audibly.

Rundelhaus with his western europe handsome appearance looks like a hollywood movie star when he make this action, he looks so charming that it is troubling.

His lofty attitudes when talking might be due to his sheltered upbringing, but from her pure words, he doesn't seem to be a bad guy.

(And the attack is so strong...)

As expected of a sorcerer, even though they took some damage from Tohya's area attack, and receive support from a bard. But to take out 3 skeleton with one attack is an impressive feat.

In Elder Tale, it is rare to see such an one sided battle.

Using Tohya as an example, if he fights with a monster of the same level one on one, he will need at least 10 rounds to defeat him. The attack of healer class is even weaker, it will take 20 attacks for Minori.

Even if the enemies' level is lower than Rundelhaus, but to defeat them in one attack is astonishing.


But...

"Hold on, there is more!"

"What is it miss Minori? did you fell in love after witnessing my beautiful magic?"

Rundelhaus was struck in the back of his head as he was twirling around. It is an arrow from the skeleton archer.

"Ah..." "Ah...." "Eh..." "This is bad..."

"What... What is going on!"

Rundelhaus turns around.

His attack hit all 4 enemies, but Tohya's attack did not hit the skeleton archer, and he is still moving because of that.

"Woah, you bastard!"

"I...I will heal you!"

Minori used minor heal as first aid.

Tohya do not want the enemy to have a chance to attack and rush the skeleton archer.

But that was a mistake. The charging Tohya was discovered by a new group of skeleton in another corner of the pathway, attracting enemy reinforcement.

Sorcerer has high attack powers and is a powerful weapon for attacking the enemies, but they are not invincible.

The high attacks will agitate the monsters. In the monster's eyes, the most threatening player will be prioritize in their attacks. And Sorcerer has the same fate of all mage class, they can only equip armor with low defenses ratings and have low innate defense.

That group that come from around the corner has 5 skeletons, adding the skeleton archer left over, there are 6 enemies.

And Tohya pushing ahead made the formation unstable.

(This will become a free for all battle. No, I need to stay calm in this situation, starting with a party wide damage intercept spell as insurance...)

But Minori's thought already lack calmness.

Party wide damage intercept spell is a powerful skill with a long casting time, Rundelhaus can not afford to wait and uses his attack spell again. He attracted the attention of the skeletons away from Tohya, and they just leave the vanguard Tohya behind, making their way to the rear guard where Minori and the others are stationed.

The skeleton archer continues his range attack on Rundelhaus, his HP slowly moves to the red danger zone.

In the center of the narrow tunnel, a free for all fight erupted.

Chapter 2 end