Log Horizon Book 2 chapter 5

Name: Michitaka
Race: Human
Class: Monk
HP: 15142
MP: 4453

Equipment

Armageddon Hammer
A reward for completing five smiting challenges against a Cyclops, 'secret treasure' level. Can be used as a weapon, but have the effect of increasing durability of produced equipment, an excellent tool.

Artisan apron
Armor that can be equipped by blacksmiths, not effective in battles. It has the excellent effect of increasing the stats and HP-added for equipment produced. This is an upper body armor, take extra care when equipping.

Blacksmith's toolbox
A crucial tool for forging items, indispensable for all blacksmiths. It can be equipped at any level, some adventurers will customize their own toolbox.


Chapter 5: Grab Your Future

Part 01
"You are threatening us!"

In another location, in the spacious meeting room on the top floor of the guild building, the meeting was heading towards a flash point.

The announcement that Shiroe 'owns this guild building' had the same effect as an explosion.

The only ones who did not feel the blow were Shiroe himself, Nyanta behind him, the Crescent Moon members and Soujiro of West Wind Brigade who did not know the actual plan but had somehow sensed the situation.

The guild building is one of the main facilities of Akiba.

Guild hall main functions includes the forming, joining, withdrawing from guilds, as well as dissemination of special events for high level guilds. It administrates everything in regards to guilds in the system.

But it does more than that. The guild building lobby in Akiba also houses the bank counters. Banks in Elder Tale are an important facility, where you can deposit your money and rent warehouse space to store your items.

In this alternate world, the only penalty for death is the deduction of some experience points and a drop in the durability of your equipment. But items not equipped will be dropped on the field with a certain probability.

If you are lucky you might be able to recover them. But if you were PKed, it would definitely be taken by the enemy. Even discounting this reason, having a large amount of cash on your person was a reckless act. Players would normally deposit most of their wealth in the bank. When they need to spend it on expensive items, they could pay some processing fee to remit the money.

For Elder Tale players, the bank is something you use everyday, an important and convenient facility.

Akiba's only bank counter is in the guild building's lobby. Shiroe controls its access. This has major implications.

There are banks in every city, and the accounts are linked. Be it cash or items, you can process the withdrawal from any bank. For instance, you can deposit cash in Akiba and withdraw it from Hannan.

But with the intercity transport gates down, it was risky to travel to a city so far away. Shiroe's group traveled to Susukino before, but that was a rare case. After the Apocalypse, players who travelled to another city from his starting city was probably less than 0.1%

Taking into account the current environment, Shiroe now has the power to freeze the bank accounts of everyone, it was easy to understand why the participants were shocked.

Shiroe announced his plan to the Crescent Moon Alliance after confirming that they would be able to raise the 5 million gold needed. Even Henrietta couldn't calm herself and said,

"Compared to Mr Shiroe, the devil is so much more likeable. The devil knows he is a bad guy, but Mr Shiroe doesn't think so. Black heart glasses is too cute a nickname for you."

"Freezing bank accounts? What else can you call it but intimidation?"

The small guild Grandeur's guild master Woodstock said in a trembling voice.

"I am only responding to Mr Issac's question, which was 'Even if the council is formed, depending on the agenda, the big guilds might object and incite a war'. My answer is there will be no war, because the one starting it will lose all access to Akiba's guild building."

"Isn't that a threat...."

Shiroe replied to his relentless questions.

"If you want to say that this is intimidation, then if a big guild like Issac uses the tactic 'if you propose anything that is detrimental to me, I will start a war' will also be intimidation, correct? What is the difference between these two? I am only proposing 'setting up a council to discuss official business', and did not ignore any criticism. Please consider which request is more reasonable."

A heavy silence that threatened to crush all of them fell on the meeting room.

The participants felt that they are having a nightmare.

"How did you raise so much money? Guild building is a public zone, correct? Where did the money come from?"

"It was sponsored by us."

The one answering was Oceanic Systems' Strong Armed Michitaka. His voice was returning back to normal, and he seemed to be the first to recover from the shock.

"So the challenge mentioned by Shiroe is..."

"Yes, that is to start this meeting."

"So that's why."

Michitaka nodded among the waves of question demanding from him the reason for the sponsorship. There were only 11 people seated, but the impact of Shiroe's words had driven the aides into panic as well.


"Please quiet down a bit, this is too noisy!"

Michitaka bellowed at the crowd as he lowered his head to study the documents before him. The data on it describes the secret behind cooking that Nyanta discovered, as well the preparation method used by Crescent Moon to make burgers. This was a real cooking recipe detailing how to prepare the food, not a 'in game recipe' that lists the ingredients needed to create food by using the menu selection.

Earlier in the morning, before Shiroe chaired this meeting, he invited Oceanic systems, the Rodrick Firm and 8th Shopping District Center, the 3 major production guilds' guild masters to come, and distributed this data to them personally.

The content of the data was simple beyond description... McCrescent's new food product did not come from a new game recipe.

Lured by the prospects of getting their hands on the game recipe, the production guilds were led on by the Crescent Moon Alliance, and each lost their 1.5 million gold investment.

But Shiroe was not sorry about this.

Shiroe retorted to the 3 unhappy guild masters,

"Why do you think that this data is not worth 1.5 million gold?"

"Shiroe, do you have anything more to add?"

Michitaka had already accepted all of this, as he asked Shiroe with a bitter smile and a unhappy look.

"That is right, no matter how Shiroe sempai explains, we are still in the position akin to blackmail. And humans will lose their cool if they know they are under threat, sempai understands this correct?"

Soujiro added.

Shiroe nodded to acknowledge Soujiro and continued.

"The two of you summarized this very well. I don't think that a place with a single person holding so much authority is an ideal city. Returning to the previous topic, does everyone think that this city...no, let's go bigger, does everyone think that this world's adventurers, are they okay with the current situation? I want to raise two main objectives. The first is to let the citizens of the city, and of this world recover their vitality. Second, set laws for the adventurers of this city, and enforce it. Anyone opposed to this so far?"

No objections.

That was to be expected.

And Shiroe's objectives were not bad things. Recovering vitality is a good thing, both the battle guilds and production guilds would benefit.

But if the detailed plan causes a heavy load, then it would be different. If letting other players recover their vigor involved an increase in the burden of this meeting's participants, the next question would be 'who would pick this unlucky lot'.

But at this point in time, no one raised any objections.

Setting laws was the same. Some may think it is troublesome and restrictive, but the players gathered here were all Japanese playing in the Japanese server. No one could dismiss the importance of a legal system.

Depending on the content of the law, such as some evil laws that no one could agree with, some problems could also arise. But just for the proposal of setting laws, there was no reason to object.

"Okay."

Blacksword Issac slammed his thick hand onto the table, as if to shoulder everyone's confusion, and announced,

"Since it has come to this, let's listen to this meeting's proposer... Log Horizon's plan in detail."

The warrior in black armor glared at Shiroe with fierce eyes. The others' gaze also fell on Shiroe. Shiroe stuck out his chest, and continued to speak with a renewed passion.

Part 02
Moving between zones is a special game design.

For instance, if you want to move between the guild hall and the guild building, you had to use a specific facility, a door.

From the guild building side, there are countless doors along the 2nd and 3rd floor corridors. This corridor with doors are arranged in an orderly manner and led to different zones... guild halls.

Physically speaking, there were no rooms behind the doors, since there was no space for the rooms anyway. All the doors are close to each other, and the wall behind is only 1 meter deep. Every floor has 17 such corridors, you cannot find the space for rooms anywhere here.

Using the guild building's magical door, you would be transported to another zone known as the guild hall. That is an easier way to understand this. Vice versa, using the door of the guild hall would transport you to the guild building.

They didn't know if it was Minori or Toya who touched the door handle first. Facing the attacking venomous bugs, they ran away in order to avoid their attacks, and fell face down onto the guild building corridor.

"There are 2 more!"

The Guild building corridor was different from usual, with several players standing by. A young man in leather armor and a girl holding a blade were guiding the Hamelin beginners down the stairs.

Minori coughed repeatedly.

She had the disgusting feeling of bugs squirming into her mouth and vomited. The fog of bugs was actually just the temporary effect of the magic. Since the caster could not see Minori, the bugs were all gone. But the revolting feeling made her feel that they were still there.

"Minori, are you okay?"

Toya patted her back gently with a worried look. Minori who was kneeling on the floor could not see Toya, only the floor and a spreading pool of blood.

"Toya you are.... Wait a moment, I will cast 'minor heal'..."

"It's fine, I'm okay..."

Feeling Toya raising his gaze, Minori turned her head to look. Besides her was a young swordsman in blue leather armor and two chinese style swords on his back, and a young girl in black.

"What are your names? Is anyone else coming?"

The young swordsman should be only slightly older than the twins. The black haired swordsman who looked like a high schooler asked Minori.

(Are we safe... now...?)

Minori did not know why Hamelin's members were not rushing out into the guild building's corridor. But the fact they have been rescued was real. Minori lost the strength in her legs from relief.


Minori took hold of the offered hand of the swordsman and stood up.

Toya was already on his feet, answering the swordsman's question.

"I am Toya, this is my sister Minori, we are definitely the last two beginners."

"Alright, that's great."

The young swordsman smiled as if a heavy weight was lifted off his shoulders.

"I am Shoryu, nice to meet you... Okay, let's go to the lobby, your companions are all waiting there... We need to cure you and ascertain everyone is here, explain the situation and arrange for the things after..."

"Hey Minori, don't get cold feet now, it is embarrassing."

"Toya you are such a bully."

Toya's gentle and relieving tone didn't match his teasing words. They just needed to follow Shoryu the swordsman, and they would be able to meet Shiroe. Just as Minori was thinking about that...

(...!)

Minori felt an unexpected chill on her back. She didn't need to turn around to know that someone was 'appearing' behind her. Minori turned her gaze behind her, but only realized she shouldn't have done that midway. What she should be doing was not trying to grasp the current situation, but to rush down the stairs. But it was already too late.

An adult hand covered her view point and grabbed Minori roughly. When Minori realized this, she felt a strong force tackling her. It was Toya.

Log Horizon Vol02 279.png

Minori was knocked away, the hand was not able to touch her clothes. It changed its target to Toya. This arm did not look strong, but it used a strength that made Minori's face turn green as it gripped Toya's wrist. Toya's steel wrist guard creaked under the pressure.

That sorcerer appeared after changing zones.

"You two...!"

The sorcerer with his face red with anger belonged to the mage class. But a mage with a high enough level will have stronger arm strength than Toya's warrior class. In this world, physical appearance had no bearings on arm strength. From Toya's tense and painful expression, you could tell how much damage this skinny arm could deal.

"What are you doing? What are you all scheming?"

"So noisy, just... shut...up!"

Toya shouted with all his might.

Toya overcame the level gap with his impulsive spirit, knocking the sorcerer away. The sorcerer would not suffer any damage, but Toya drew his sword at the same time to protect his sister.

"You audacious brats dare to oppose me! You have nowhere else to go!"

These words awakened the pain in the twin's heart.

They were only a burden, and they could not even defend against the violence of this man.

Even so, Minori still gathered her courage to resist. At this moment, a figure rush to the scene like a dark sparrow from the opposite direction.

This shadow kicked Hamelin's sorcerer away as if he was flying, putting herself between the twins and him.

(So powerful... this person is so pretty.)

The pretty lady Minori saw used her flying knee so smoothly it seemed that she had practiced it thousands of times on the sorcerer. Her actions were so fluid it looked like some kind of dance.

But the words that came out of her pretty little mouth were both sharp and cruel.

"Just as weak as you look.", she said with a face of contempt towards the sorcerer.

"Who are you? Akatsuki? Log Horizon? Never hear of you before!"

The sorcerer stopped his actions and seemed to be checking with his game menu interface. He said the guild name with a look of disdain.

But the words had no effect on the young girl, she maintained her usual serious expression and replied with a nod.

"Is that so? Isn't the label of the 3rd rate guild Hamelin more shameful? People will laugh at you as you walk on the street, it's so bad you have to run back to hide in the guild hall in shame... Am I right?"

The man was infuriated with her and grabbed her collar. Battles were restricted in the Guild building but Hamelin members knew very well from experience what actions would be considered as battles.

Attacking with weapons or using offensive magic on others would be judged as battle actions without exceptions. But contact by hand, if it doesn't cause excessive pain, would not be seen as combat.

Just like how Yakuza in the real world know what would be considered breaking the law, they were also aware of what they were allowed to do without provoking the guards from coming.

"What did you just say? You know about Hamelin and still dare to talk shit with me? You smelly brat!"

Even facing such a cold and intimidating threat, Akatsuki showed no signs of fear. Her tiny body was lifted off the ground by this sorcerer, but Akatsuki calmly spoke in this position.

"... Ah, my lord? My apologies, I miss out one of them. The name is Shredder. A man with bad breathe. Just like his name, his face is as ugly as a shredded piece of paper... Yes."

"What are you talking about about? When I drag you back into the guild hall, someone like you will..."

The sound was cut off.

Not only the sound, the man himself also disappeared.

Akatsuki landed softly, the man no longer in front of her.

"My lord, thanks for adding him to the list, he is no longer here. Seems like blacklisting someone while they are still in the zone will banish them from the zone, not sure he is outside or in his guild hall. Erm, yes. Understood, we made contact with a lady named Minori as well as a gentleman named Toya. They seem to be the last two, I will continue my surveillance on Hamelin's guild hall entrance."

The pretty and delicate young girl maintained her serious expression, turned and approached the exhausted twins who were sitting on the floor.

"You are Minori and Toya correct? I am Akatsuki, Shiroe's ninja. I will ensure your safety, Shiroe is still engaged in another battle. But first of all... do you want to take a bath?"

Minori's tears fell with relief.

Part 03
"As I explained, I am proposing 2 basic policies... Improve the vigor of the city and increase security. As for the detailed plan, I will first express my view about improving vitality. I have already discussed this with a few related personnel... Marielle."

Shiroe's speech gave Marielle the courage to stand up.

"I think everyone already knows, Crescent Moon Alliance's business McCrescent is very popular, sales have been great."

Marielle placed both hands on the table and leaned forward. Shiroe could see that Henrietta who was behind her was cheering her on silently.

"McCrescent provides take away meals and main selling point is it's absolutely delicious burgers. There has been various rumors and speculations, we have heard about this. As for our secret, a lot of people have speculated that we discovered recipes that are level 91 and above... It is not true."

Except for the production guilds who already knew the truth, this news caused a big commotion in the meeting room.

"I want to announce the secret here, the method is as follows.... Just prepare the ingredients normally like in the real world will be enough. But the one cooking must have the chef subclass. If the chef's level is too low, the cooking will be judged to have failed. It is that simple, the trick is to not use the in game menu."

As the crowd begun to understand the implication behind these words, the commotion became even bigger.

Ingredients needed to be made via the in game menu, this is an assumption that have deceived everyone. This was a simple matter, but also a revolutionary discovery.

Marielle took her seat amidst the clamorous atmosphere, and Shiroe added before any other arguments were brought up.

"The one who discovered this method is the chef behind me, Nyanta. I received his permission to share this with Crescent Moon, and subsequently started McCrescent."

"...So that is why Oceanic Systems sponsored them..."

"...Wait, didn't they just get tricked?"

All kinds of conjecture reverberated in the meeting room for a long time. Shiroe ignored the noise and continued.

"I feel that...This discovery has a lot of potential. This was first discovered by Chief Nyanta, but I couldn't have held this meeting without it, and wouldn't have thought of having this meeting in the first place... Michitaka-san, has there been any results?"

"Yes."

Michitaka, replied with a deep voice. The seemingly calm and balanced guild master of a major production guild had a look of surprise on his face.

The 3 major production guilds had been quiet for all this time... the reason lies in Shiroe's speech.

"Our guild... with the help of the Rodrick Firm and 8th District Shopping Center, finished producing a steam engine moments ago."

This announcement shocked the table again, but it did not cause an uproar like the last surprise. After hearing this, the listeners were starting to doubt their ears, and were concentrating on the exchange between Michitaka and Shiroe in order to not miss out any details.

"Technically speaking it is still a prototype, it still has a lot of problems. But the theory has been proven to work."

"Producing results in less than half a day, that is amazing."

"The basic parts are made through the game menu, same with the tools. Making it with existing parts is an excellent idea."

Michitaka nodded at Shiroe.

"Hey... Making a steam engine is amazing, but what is this about?"

Blacksword Issac asked with all his wrath and anger gone.

"Issac-san, you don't understand? In simple terms: the discovery we mentioned, it is not just about cooking methods and chefs, but it proves 'players with production subclass can make things manually' to create things that are not in the game menu selection. But due to Elder Tale game design, there are nothing related to steam engines. Some food recipes don't exist within the game. But the fact that it does not exist not only affects small things like manual cooking and not using game recipe, but also expands into a dimension beyond just delicious food."

The Rodrick Firm's guild master Rodrick answered Issac. He explained in a methodical way, acting more like a scholar than a merchant.

"From now on, things not in the game can be created, there will be an inventing craze soon... I think a lot of things in the old world can be recreated here. Let me think... Television is difficult, but there is a good chance of making radios."

8th Shopping Districts Charasin continued where Rodrick left off.

The scholarly Rodrick and Michitaka who were smiling steadily nodded at Charasin's words. Their guilds were witness to the steam engine experiment.

"With more new inventions, it will create more demands, and there will be more ways to earn money. In other words, this will improve the vigor in the city. Because the economy might go out of control, I think we need to consider the details... But this chaos can be controlled, it won't cause depression and stagnation. In this world, items from the middle ages, or tools you can use with your hands can be made through the game menu. Since there are templates for everyone to follow, I predict that there will be rapid progress."

"We the 3 major production guilds have confirmed this fact, and are focusing on ways to make money and stimulate the economy. We support Shiroe's proposal and think there is nothing wrong with it."

Michitaka continued after Shiroe finished.

"Then, you guys from the production guilds..."

"Yes, we support the setting of the 'Round Table Council'."

In actual fact, a small business like the McCrescent franchise can make 50,000 in revenue a day. But with competitors entering the market, there will be a drop in price. The average sales per person will drop from 30 gold to less than 10 gold. Despite that, there are still plenty of potential customer base...which is all the players in Akiba, ten times the number McCrescent can handle.

It is easy to tell that this will have a huge effect on the economy.

The battle guild members can only gasp in response.

With the 3 major production guilds so confident, they can only accept that the proposal will invigorate the city.

"The city is like this because most people are too depressed to have the will to do anything. But I think the main problem is there is nothing for them to do. The monetary expenses in this world is too low, we need to make them spend their cash to a certain degree, so they will work to earn more money. This is the correct way of doing it. I think there should be more job opportunity in the future, for example McCrescent is looking to hire more help for the shops correct?"

"Yes, we have been restricted to using our members for various reasons, but I definitely want to hire more people."

Charasin nodded at Marielle's sincere words.

"Battle guilds will have more job requests such as farming for ingredients, exploration and escort missions. If the council is formed, there will be budget to hire the battle guilds to investigate the 'Fairy Rings'. After completing that, the next will be information about each zones, collating the data to be distributed by newspaper or other media... If there is budget, we can achieve many things."

It has been confirmed that the Fairy Rings are in normal operation. But the rings are affected by the different moon phases and will change its teleportation destination, the chance of going to your desired location was low. With the fact that you could no longer refer to online guides, there was no way to predict where you would go, so no one uses them.

It is possible to investigate the destination you would be transferred to, but it would take a lot of resources. Not only the 28 days where the moon phases are different, the destination changes every hour. The data of each Fairy Ring might differ from another. Even limiting it to the time when the moon was out, the routes of all the Fairy Rings was an encyclopedic amount of data.

It was not that no one want to investigate, it was just that this project was too big, it cannot be accomplished by a single guild.

But if you create the organization Shiroe proposed, to support the operation, then it is not impossible to map the routes, the battle guilds could take on this big mission.

"Next is the issue of security, there should be people who thinks laws will be restrictive, but I think this is something we have to live with. This is a middle ages styled alternate world, even if we don't restrict certain actions by law, I think reason and culture will allow this world to operate smoothly anyway. If there are cases of hogging grinding spots or territorial disputes, if we agree to compromise, it won't come to one party rejecting another unreasonably.

The participants nodded in agreement, including Blacksword Issac.

"But for some extreme actions, we still need some ways to stop them. One of them is banning PKing in low level zones, for instance, bullying a player below level 50 is meaningless correct? They don't have enough wealth for themselves, hunting them is just a way to enjoy murder. The details of the restriction can be decided later, but I feel PKing should be banned for all low level zones around Akiba."

There are no comments for this from the others.

Guilds worthy of being invited here were all big guilds which won't go down the PK line. This was expected, since Guilds that would PK are mostly mid-sized guild who rely on coercion to get what they want.

"The next will be human rights, the guarantee of personal freedom. In this world where death is not the end, confinement and kidnapping are more serious then the old world. Joining and leaving guilds should be a voluntary decision, forceful and coercive actions should be illegal and punishable by law. Other things like murder and rape should be obviously be illegal too."

...Regarding this...

...Adding these rules should be unavoidable.

The meeting room had an agreeable atmosphere, the participants felt that there were no problem with this. Everyone present resented criminal acts like these, and think 'we should get rid of this criminal behavior'.

But with the system of this world, 'restricting fighting in non-combat zones' would activate punishment by the guards to the violators, but other crimes like confinement and coercion would not activate them.

In other words, there needed to be someone to monitor and judge if any laws have been broken, and even enforce punishment on the spot. But this method uses a lot of resources and everyone doesn't think it would work.

But Shiroe mentioned his 'freezing bank account' card, with this things would be much easier. If there are any disputes among the players, the 'Round Table Council' would investigate and blacklist any problematic players. They would then be unable to live properly in Akiba and be forced to move to another city.

For the participants, Shiroe's suggestion was very sound.

The steam engine and the support of the production guilds in the formation of the 'Round Table Council' were all surprising elements but after the explanations, everything felt reasonable.

Shiroe expressed these specific practices in order to convince the participants in forming the council after listening to the details.

Even though he had not gained total support across the board, but it had reached an acceptable level, the atmosphere shifted to what they should do after forming the council.

"This is the last point...human rights not only applies to the adventurers, but also the people of the land as well."

Several people opened their mouth slightly. The quick witted participants immediately linked this to the slavery problem in Susukino as the reason for raising this point.

But Shiroe was talking about a completely different matter.

"It is inconclusive how the meeting will end today, whether the draft I submit will be accepted and the formation of the 'Round Table Council'... is still unknown. But I hope everyone at least have the idea that the fantastical and twisted world we are in has affected the Elder Tale game. But as we learned from the 'chef' discovery, this is not just a game world, it is an alternate world that follows more real life physics and logic than that. Has anyone here conversed properly with the people of the land before?"

One of the aides said,

"Aren't they NPCs?"

"They are not NPCs, they have unique personalities. They have their own worries, dreams and morale view in this world. They call themselves the people of the land, and refer to us as adventurers. But I need to make one thing clear: they are the original citizens of this world, we are the parasites. Akiba is an adventurer city, so there are less people of the land here. But in this whole world, there are definitely more people of the land than us. Adventurers and people of the land have different responsibilities in this world, if we carry on like this, we won't be able to build a good relationship with them."

"Relationship?"

Shiroe's words, even if part of it makes them feel "so that's how it works, if you think about it he is right" and nod their heads, but some parts were too abstract for them and annoyed them. 'In this alternate world of Elder Tale, they are not NPCs, but the people of this world' this point even if it was not convincing, but it was a logical conjecture. But for most players, this was not sentimental enough to move them.

"Ah...Let me add on to that point."

In the air of confusion, Marielle said gingerly.

She was always tense in such formal gatherings, but she maintained her cheerful nature and explained,

"Erm, McCrescent is very popular, but our customers are not just players, in other words, not only adventurers... The people of the land also wants to buy them. Even though I don't really know how to describe this, and we are not sure ourselves.... But these people also want to eat tasty food."

The meeting room became silent.

The shock this revealation gave the crowd was enough to give the sensation of the ground you were standing on cracking and caving in.

NPCs to most of the players are just NPCs, even if Brigandia in Susukino went too far, the normal players in this city treated them as 'talking vending machines'. In Elder Tale, there is nothing wrong, but that is only when this is still a game.

But because of this, to the experienced players of Elder Tale gathered in this room, Marielle's report was like a punch that destroyed common sense.

"I won't suggest that we give up returning to the original world, and I don't want to say this either... But we need to recognize that we have been in this alternate world for 2 months now, we cannot continue to be a selfish visitor. We have the preconception that the people of the land have no emotions, but they do. In this world, according to Elder Tale setting, we are a special class known as adventurers, with the ability to be 'mercenaries who can learn special skills and raid the nest of monsters'. But the people of the land are the majority in this world, because services such as banks are provided by them. They should be able to live on without us,. But if we don't behave ourselves in this world, it could result in a irreparable bad end."

Shiroe sat down after he finished without waiting for any response. He was tired but felt content.

Even though Shiroe had finished his proposal, the meeting room remained silent.

Everyone was as still as a statue, Shiroe's speech was so abnormal and shocking. All present felt that they did not become trapped in the Elder Tale game, but the game world had become their reality.

Even now, they were unable to dismiss this thought.

The numerous things raised by Shiroe, such as not using menu selection to create items, the people of the land were a force to be reckon with in this world and have their own personality, these facts shattered their knowledge of this world that they learned though the past two months.

"...Shiroe is hinting that there may be a war with the people of the land?"

Crusty asked in a philosophical tone.

"I think this is not my inference, but the inference the members of the council came up with."

Shiroe gave an irresponsible argument.

The arrow has been shot, Shiroe had shown his hand, disclosed all his information. In simple terms, he had displayed the world as seen through his eyes.

This was a battle Shiroe started willfully, but Shiroe wanted to win, with no one forced to lose. He just wanted victory, but not to grab it from others.

Shiroe didn't want to be too overbearing, but if possible, he wish everyone could reach this goal. Everyone referred to all the people in Akiba.

(If the people who don't understand after I have explained so clearly are in the majority... there might be war.)

Shiroe moved his gaze to the side and caught Marielle's eyes coincidentally.

Marielle seemed to be troubled, but she continued giving her sunflower like smile. Henrietta besides her shrug, giving a 'please help yourself' expression.

In the time that felt much longer then then it really was, the first to speak in this silent meeting room was the guild master of the biggest battle guild in Akiba... D.D.D's leader berserker Crusty.


He announced in a calm voice,

"D.D.D agrees to the formation of the 'Round Table Council' as a governing group, and is willing to join."

This is followed by Soujiro in a teasing voice,

"West Wind Brigade agrees to it's formation, it's been a while since I saw Shiroe-sempai's 'total battlefield control' technique, I wish you had joined my guild."

"I can't allow Akiba to fall apart after all, the Black Sword Knights will join."

"Honesty agrees, we will work on improving our relationship with the people of the land from now on."

Black sword Issac and Honesty's guild master Ein also replied.

"As we said before, we the 3 major production guilds support Shiroe and the 'Round Table Council', and hope to earn a lot of money from its formation."

Rodrick and Charasin nodded to acknowledge Michitaka's words. They have already inferred the many possibilities from Shiroe's report, and were instructing their members to carry out all sorts of experiments.

The participants after that just followed the flow and expressed their willingness to join. Grandeur and Radio market these small guilds also expressed that they were willing to represent the other small guilds and join the council.

Marielle seemed to have pushed herself too hard, and just threw herself exhaustively onto the table with her smile still active. Shiroe smiling sheepishly relaxed his sweaty fist under the table, being careful not to let Marielle find out.

Part 04
"Captain Marielle! I finish packing the kitchen cabinet!"

"Don't call me captain, jeez, i can't stand you..."

There are people busy packing, some writing numbers on the packages, some wandering around confused.

A week after the formation of the 'round table council', Crescent Moon Alliance's guild hall is enveloped by the hustle and bustle.

"Captain Marielle is our guild master, please sit down!"

"No, no can do! We are a small guild, you can't treat the guild master as a great person, haven't I been emphasizing this?"

"Marielle, you are very clumsy, so just sit in a corner and drink your tea, don't be a bother to the others."

Marielle who is arguing with the new member was stopped by Henrietta. Her words made Marielle all teary, and she went to a corner of the office in a sulk saying "So I am such a useless fellow..."

Crescent Moon Alliance is in the middle of moving.

All the members have been activated, cleaning or arranging the furniture, working hard at their assigned task. Marielle watch over the members that have grown in numbers, lost in her thoughts.

'Round table council' was formed the day Hamelin was disbanded. In the same guild building that the meeting was held, Crescent Moon's Shoryu, Serara and Log horizon's Akatsuki was successful in receiving the beginners who escaped from Hamelin.

Shiroe was the chairman cum proposer of that meeting, and is in charge of chairing it and directing the course of the discussion. But very few people knew he was coordinating the destruction of Hamelin at the same time.

Marielle wouldn't have noticed if she was not informed about it before hand.

Hamelin's member was blacklisted from entering the guild building, so they are unable to give chase to the beginners.

Akatsuki found out all the names of the Hamelin members. When McCrescent was in operation, the reason she was not present was not only to avoid being caught by Henrietta and becoming her dress up doll.

All the beginners who escaped into the guild building was instructed by Shoryu to complete the guild membership withdrawal paper works. There are a total of 35 beginners confined and managed by Hamelin, all of them were covered in sweat and dust, a sorry sight.

As Serara and the volunteers from Crescent Moon Alliance prepared food and clothes for the beginners, Hamelin's members start to have a rough idea of what is happening.

The guild building is the only place that links to the Hamelin guild hall zone. Hamelin's member cannot enter the guild building, so they are trapped in the Hamelin guild hall.

As Shiroe predicted, they still have the means to escape. The first is to use the 'Call of Home' to teleport to Akiba. Since the last place of visit is Akiba, they can teleport back to the city, it is normally used to return from a faraway zone to the city instantly.

But there is no restriction preventing you from using it while inside the city or in a guild hall. Using 'Call of Home' teleports you to the entrance of Akiba.

Another way is to commit suicide in the guild hall. You will lose some EXP as a penalty, but you can respawn at the cathedral, which is at the center of Akiba, but in essence this is a way to teleport as well.

As the Hamelin members finally realize the methods and execute them, the sun has long set and the meeting agenda has been mostly been dealt with. What is left is the details of the laws that need to be enforced.

Things have progressed to the point that Hamelin can no longer retaliate. Even if they escape the prison that is their guild hall, they are still barred from the guild building. The battle was already decided several phases before that.

Something unexpected has also happened.

Marielle and company was planning to introduce the beginners to the various guilds they wish to join, or to provide aid until they are independent. This plan has already been submitted to the round table council for discussion.

In fact, all those present at the meeting were willing to take in the beginners and provide them with aid.

But the situation is that 16 of the beginners want to join other guilds, the other 19 wish to join Crescent Moon Alliance.

From what Serara said, Shoryu was overly manly when executing the rescue operation, giving the impression of a dependable leader, increasing the number of people wanting to join Crescent Moon Alliance.

Henrietta describes it as 'chicks who are imprinted by a toy chicken', which was beyond Marielle's expectation.

But Crescent Moon is a member of the round table council, since the council has decided the policy of providing them with aid, they can't throw them out like abandoned kittens. And Crescent Moon is a warm and gentle guild that can take care of low to mid level players, so Marielle and the members decides to accept them with a warm welcome.

But this also created problems for the operation of Crescent Moon Alliance as well.

The number of members in Crescent Moon has nearly doubled, the guild hall has become overly crowded.

It is not compulsory for the members to all live in the guild hall, members of any guild are free to rent a hotel room in his name for a night, months or even a year. Many adventurers do this to ensure they have their own personal space.

But this is too big an expense for beginners, and Crescent Moon Alliance members are on good terms with each other, so quite a number live in the guild hall.

...The guild master Marielle herself also treats the guild hall like her own room, so her members will also emulate her.

"Marielle, Marielle? We are ready, stand up. Hold this, it's your luggage."

Marielle hug the teddy bear and cushion Henrietta handed her, and leave the office she is so used to. All the furniture have been removed, with no sign of the old days left.

"Captain Marielle, the office in the new guild hall is ready!"

Marielle thank and smiled at the lively and eager member, and begin to move.

Just like this, with the original guild hall unable to accommodate the needs of Crescent Moon, they moved to another guild hall also located in the guild building.

Even though Marielle is moving away, she is just leaving the old guild hall to the guild building corridor and entering another door from the neighboring corridor, a short distance to travel.

But the level of the new guild hall is different, increasing from 7 rooms to 31 rooms, the rental also increased 3 times. But there are still some funds left from the McCrescent operation.

The strict accountant Henrietta guaranteed "I think there is no problem", so Marielle was assured and made the decision to move.

There were more than 30 members, but the new guild hall was able to accommodate them, with a kitchen, meeting room, workshop, storage, living room, plus every room was much larger than before. The 31 rooms were structured like a mini castle.

The most amazing thing was the guild hall had 2 levels, and even stairs.

"So spacious!"

"Amazing, so big!"

"It feels like even a dragon can come in!"

The members frolic around in joy, and Marielle smiles naturally. There are on sorts of ongoing task in every corner of the new guild hall, such as arranging furniture,removing packaging, taking notes of what things needed to be purchased.

Thinking of the expenses for carpet and table is troubling, but the bare minimum can be created by their own production members. Even if they still need other items and require money, they can just treat farming as an adventure.

Thinking of the city becoming lively again made Marielle's heart itch.

(There are so many things to do... and so many things i want!)

The new office is spacious, 3 folds bigger than the last. It is so wide that it is hard to keep calm. The table and couch of the old office is in the room, but the tiny furniture will only make visitors see the room as deserted and empty.

"This... is really big, is this bigger than our old meeting room?"

Henrietta who entered holding some documents is also speechless. When she was here last time to scout, there was no furniture, only the opinion that bigger is better. But with the furniture added in there is still too much space, giving it a lonely feeling.

"What should we do, I have to live in this place?"

Marielle says in an embarrassed voice, in some ways this is troubling for her.

"I think it will be okay if we separate the area with screen doors and plants."

Henrietta made notes of the necessary items in her notebook. She is right, with such a spacious room, they can create space for the receiving of guests. Marielle thought of separating into 3 areas, the inner one being her bedroom.

"Seems like we will need lots of things..."

"You are right... But it is a good thing."

Henrietta smile as she look at her notes. This beautiful smile made Marielle happy that they feel the same way.

"I love you Henrietta!"

Marielle hug her passionately to express her feelings.

"How did the topic changed to this! Marielle you are really random!"

Henrietta struggle in surprised just as a new member came in. "Sor...Sorry for intruding!" he says as he leaves. As the two of them struggle in the room admidst Marielle's laughter, the two of them only stop after exhausting all their strength.

"Really, you..."

"I have already said i'm sorry... forgive me please! Alright? Alright?"

"I only said that buying furniture to stimulate the growth of the economy is a good thing."

Marielle's attitude made Henrietta's face red in embarrassment and her eyebrows burrow in a frown. She is always hugging akatsuki, but cannot get used to being hugged. The smile of her BFF made Marielle smile brightly.

"Really, this feels like the sun is suddenly coming out."

What Marielle meant was not the coming summer.

It is the Akiba after the formation of round table council.


That very night, there are tens of notice about the round table committee in the Akiba's central square. The news spread like wildfire. By dawn everyone knew about this notice.

But this move raised some voice of objection naturally.

This is because the governing round table council members were not elected democratically. By the standards of a common Japanese, this is the same as forcing the players to accept this, with the major guilds pulling strings behind the scene.

But in anticipation of this, the notice includes all the guideline and policy behind the formation of the council, the actions it will take in the short term as well as their execution.

Other then this, McCrescent's curious new cooking methods were also disclosed without any reserve.

Akiba is filled with all kind of food just after one night. The food with taste that can only be purchased at McCrescent can now be prepared by all the chefs now.

The new method not only requires the chef skill level, the chef's knowledge and practical experience with real food as just as important. Some food that cannot be said to be good are also made, but it is still miles better than the tasteless meal of days past.

Some impatient chef set up stores immediately. Some sell freshly baked bread, some sell fruit juice, some are even selling food as simple as roasted sweet potatoes. There are even people who set up a camp fire on the road side with a large pot of fish or meat soup and sell them by the bowl, just like people trying to reap a profit in the wake of a disaster.

The desire for good food of everybody has been met. Food that has good review sells out in a brink of an eye. The joy of shopping for good food that was not imaginable just yesterday is now a reality in Akiba.


The citizens welcome this change.

And the people cheering at this change is not only the adventurers, but the numerous people of the land as well.

Revitalizing the city, setting up legal systems to maintain security, improve relations with the people of the land, collection of tax to maintain the operation of the administration. Speech was given the following day to express the reasons for the policies.

The people giving speeches in the central square of Akiba includes D.D.D's leader berserker Crusty, Oceanic Systems's boss Michitaka and others. The famous representatives of Akiba are all gathered to announce the formation principles of the round table council.

Collecting tax raised some doubts among the people, but by confirming the tax is half automated and is low in amount, the citizens agrees to it reluctantly. Tax revenue is based on the usage of the guild building. If players need to go to the guild building, they will need to pay the tax of 1 gold for that day.

This is one of the criteria for entry the owner of the zone can set. According to Rodrick's estimation, the round table council will be able to collect roughly 400,000 in taxes as the budget for the council.

Most of the players think setting laws are necessary, even more so for players who are not a member of a big guild. The people now understands the importance of improving the vigor of Akiba.

With food as the catalyst, the revolution that lasted a single night made all the citizens return to life.

From the end result, the round table council is accepted by almost all the citizens. A governing system is just a matter of time, so instead of a dictatorship... such as a one formed by a single large guild, the formation of a working autonomous institution is tens of fold better.

The eleven founding representatives of the round table council receives cheers and ovation as they move to deliver their speech. Instead of the courteous applause of a political party, they are more like the cheers and encouragements of a well meaning audience in a large banquet.

The surrounding are slowly dyed in the colors of the setting sun. The central square is full of audience, those who are unable to move into the square watches the stage from the high rise floors of the surrounding buildings.

They have food like bread, deserts and kebabs in their hands as they attend this event of gigantic proportion. There are some who are drinking alcoholic beverages, the mood is closer to a festive event then a political speech.

In conclusion, the representative of the round table council, Crusty, announce officially, Akiba will be setting up new organizations, as well as several projects such as the investigation of the fairy rings, they will need the support of the citizens.

As the people cheered to welcome this announcement, an alarmingly large amount of production players bring in all sort of food and beverages. The 3 major production guilds under the lead of oceanic systems said "today is the joyous 1st day of the festival", and announced loudly "We want to empty all the delicious food in our warehouse", bringing the festive atmosphere of Akiba to its climax.


"Partying til this extend, my brain is turning into mush."

"You are right."

Marielle laugh softly, But Henrietta have a troubled look on her face.

Following the endless cheers and drinking, the hour grows late.

It has been a week after that night.

Akiba continues to receive the blessing of the sun.

Everyday there are news of new food being made, even production players other than chef are also doing all kind of experiments, hoping to make new products.

Marielle and Henrietta is most interested in shower equipments. When Elder Tale were still a game, bathtubs are just one of the many decoration sit at the background. But to live in the alternate world, bathing has a different meaning. The humidity is lower than Japan, The summer won't make you dizzy from the heat... Despite this, the girls are still interested in this.

They heard that west wind brigade is the fastest in getting a mechanic, blacksmith and carpenter to help them build a large bathhouse in their guild hall castle.

Everyday there are news circulating of someone finishing a new idea. Akiba is really reinvigorated now, the young man who planned all this, remained low profile in the rowdy festival and speech, but is satisfied by all this.

Every time Marielle thought of Shiroe and his partners, she will have the feeling of joy and gratitude, with an unexplainable feeling flowing freely.


Hamelin disbanded that day.

(He really destroyed a guild. Wah, Shiroe is such a terrifying child, so dangerous...)

Marielle hug her knees on the grand chair in her office, recalling Shiroe's determined eyes behind his round frame glasses. Chairing the meeting with the fire of his conviction, he displayed a spirit that is to be feared.

The Shiroe Marielle knows is an experienced player who is always thinking about something, binding himself with all possible negative thoughts, but still have a kind and honest nature.

If you consider it, he is just a Mr nice guy, always roaming around, mature, a hard to understand but dependable enchanter.

But the man with iron will who is like a man in a duel or a serious chess match, his fiery tenacity forcing his opponents to the brink, Marielle doesn't recognize.

(But, he helped us...)

Marielle bury her face in her knees, and let out a laugh. Shiroe, Akatsuki, Nyanta and Naotsugu, these dependable friends saved Serara on behalf of Crescent Moon Alliance, and restored life to Akiba.

The four who are able to separate their personal relations and see things from the view of a bystander, searching for the 'best solution'. And the four who peacefully drink tea and chat in the Crescent Moon guild hall. Marielle is not able to see them as the same people. But even so, the facts that they are benefactors has not changed.

"...Hmmm, speaking of which, I did not see Shiroe and gang today, what are they up too?"

Marielle thought of this suddenly and asked Henrietta.

"Oh, haven't you heard? Mr Shiroe and his guild is moving to a new place today."

Part 05
At this point of time, Shiroe and friends decided to purchase a building complex in the outer edge of the outer edge of Akiba, closest to the north border of the city zone as their guild base.

Shiroe's Log Horizon guild that was formed by him several days ago, currently has 4 members.

Harmonious in his dealings, but once he is set on something, he will do whatever it takes to achieve his goal. The enchanter Shiroe with the nickname he dislikes, Black Heart glasses.

An apostle of panties, frivolous, witty and loves to jokes around, the guardian who is like an iron wall Naotsugu.

With long black hair and a small stature, who plays the straight man to Naotsugu's antics with a serious face, the young beautiful assassin akatsuki.

The chef in charge of food and life counseling teacher, the silver swashbuckler, Nyanta.


There are only four members, even calling it a small guild seems be overstating it, it is closer to being a mini guild.

Oceanic system's Michitaka mentioned that Log Horizon seems to be a temporary guild formed for the purpose of organizing the round table meeting. As he said, it is hard to dismiss the impression that it is just a one trick pony.

The player known as Shiroe's long gaming life has always kept a distance from the organization known as guild, so it is no surprise other think of his guild like that.


After the night which he spent looking at the bright moon light, Shiroe brought Naotsugu and Akatsuki along to the Akiba which is still misty from the morning fog.

In the light of the rising sun, and admidst the singing of the crickets, Shiroe who have been cracking his brain on what to say, chose the words 'I want to form a new guild, are you willing to join?' these simple words.

I messed up, I should have made a more intimate excuse. Shiroe started regretting moments after speaking, but the two of them agrees to join immediately.

...So that's what this is about, Shiroe finally want to do this? I thought I will be guildless buddies forever.

...Ninja will alway my lord where ever you go, my lord just need to say the word.

Just like this, with Nyanta who he invited earlier, Shiroe's guild Log Horizon gathered four members. From the number of members, Log Horizon is more like 'borderline horizon', a weak guild that held a small opening ceremony.


"My lord, are your finances okay?"

This can only be described as an empty and spacious high rise building, Akatsuki ask as she continued cleaning.

Akatsuki has reason to be concerned, a weak guild like theirs normally won't need a base.

Guilds with less than 10 members usually rent their own room in hotels, very few will rent a guild hall.

Since there are few members, the items and loots they need to store are also few in number. Meetings can be held in the central square or in bars. There is no problem discussing battle tactics on the road side, and even telepathy should be able to suffice.

Guilds with slightly more members can rent a guild hall from the guild building as a base.

The guild building is near the city center, the price is reasonable and the environment is clean, so it is very popular. The number of rooms ranges from the cheap 3 room to the 31 rooms enough to accommodate a hundred people, suitable for all sizes. The market and bank is also near. In short it is very convenient, most guilds will make use of this.

As for even bigger guilds, the guild hall will be too squeezy.

The biggest room provided by the guild building is 31 rooms, Crescent Moon Alliance's Marielle feels that this is a castle, but that is for a 30-40 member guild. If the number goes above 200, this space will not be enough.

Hence, big guilds on the level of black sword knight and west wind brigade will opt to choose a building within Akiba for purchase, and the zone within will serve as its headquarters.

Production guilds like Oceanic systems which claims to have 2500 members, will divide themselves based on their specialty into different departments, and each department will have its own building. For situation like this, the guild will have several building as bases.

Log Horizon's average level is 90, but their numbers are small. A guild like this owning a building is inefficient. If they want to set up a base, renting a guild hall from the guild building will be more than enough, Akatsuki is worried about the money involved.

"This part is, yah, I can still afford this."

Shiroe brushes the wall with a scrub on a long stick as he answer. The complex which was originally used as a warehouse with a big shopping area was pierced from the 1st to the 6th floor by a giant tree.

The middle of the floor has a large hole, the tree with moss which is probably hundreds of years old grows through the gaps on each floor towards the sky, and spread its leaves out on the ceiling into a green dome cover.

Akiba is engulfed by the greenery, but trees merging with buildings to this level is a rare sight.

"This complex is cheap because of the state it is in, and the lack of stairs make it undesirable."

"Hmm... you are right."

Shiroe moves away debris in response. The main bulk of the clearing operation has already been done with the assistance of the young Crescent Moon guild members over the course of several days. But it is still in ruins, and a long way from being habitable.

This place might have been a store selling large family appliances, the 1st floor has few walls and the ceiling is high, maybe 4 or meters.

In ancient times, that is the time when these buildings are built, there must have been stairs here. The empty space where the stairs used to be and the stairs that is definitely beside the elevator well has probably been swallowed by the tree branches.

A building of this scale is cheap but unpopular probably because it is far from the city center and inconvenient to use.

"But... Akiba is a crowded city, So this is a great find right? We can just rebuild the stairs."

Just as Naotsugu who is coming down from the 2nd floor said, the metal stairs linking the 1st and 2nd floor has been completed. It looks dull and cold but it is steady and wide, there is no problem using it.

"So, why is it that we cannot fix the hole in the floor of buildings when it was still a game?"

Shiroe agrees with Naotsugu.

Nyanta's discovery not only have an impact on the culinary world, all the production players are now researching and publishing new products all the time. No, not only production subclasses, even role playing subclasses are doing experiments, testing what they can do with their skills in this alternate world.

This stairs are the result of one of the experiment.

When the Elder Tale world is still a game, moving the walls or floors is something that is unimaginable, but experiments for the past week proves it can be done.

There are only stairs between the 1st and 2nd floor for now, the 3rd floor onward requires the use of ropes, but stairs will only be built if there is a need to expand.

This zone is cheaper than the market rates, but it is still a considerable sum of money. Other than that, he is also prepared to pay more cash to hire people to make the stairs. The finance of a weak and small guild is not enough to refurbish the whole building.

Building the stairs and repairing the floors designated to be individual rooms is a big project, and they hired Oceanic systems to carry it out. The guild master says "With some creativity, ruins which are suitable for living can be used in other ways. Making stairs is an interesting idea." and agrees to take the job.

Michitaka personally came to supervise the project, Naotsugu bargained with him "Hey, since this is such an interesting idea, give us a discount!" Michitaka considered this seriously, which is amusing to Shiroe.

Even though they know this will become a new business, but ease of making parts from material by game menu differs largely form the real world, making it hard to calculate a reasonable cost.

Henrietta mentioned before about the balance of supply and demand, full employment and minimum wage this kind of professional terms. Even though Shiroe understands the theory and structure, using it to calculate a value practically is near impossible. No matter what, the economy of this alternate world is full of holes, how much real world economic concept can be applied here is a big question.

Now they can only use what Michitaka describes as 'Give a rough estimate, wait some time for it to stabilize, and use that number as a guide for pricing', allowing him to name a price he guess to be okay.

Today, the four of them also woke early and started cleaning.

But with only the 4 of them, it is impossible to clean the 6 floor and 1 basement level of the complex. And the hole in the ceiling gets larger the higher you go, and all the windows are broken.

The 4 of them have long given up cleaning the whole place, just concentrates on the 2nd floor that will serve as the living area. The 2nd floor only have 2 areas with gaping holes, they should be able to clear out 8 rooms to serve as personal living space.

With this there will be no problem in the short term.

But they do not know if they can finish in the summer, or if it will drag into fall. Shiroe considered the temperature and weather, and hope to finish before winter.


But as Shiroe is busy creating their own living space, they have many guest visiting. Shiroe set this zone to be freely accessible to all, so anyone he knows can just waltz into the 1st floor of the building and call for them loudly.

Henrietta who should also be moving today came with a basket of fruits politely, congratulating Log Horizon founding their base. Akatsuki who receive the gift fearfully was caught in an instant and forced to wear a 'special complimentary gift', but let's not go into details.

West wind brigade's Soujiro along with the beautiful healer Nazuna who was also in the tea party, came to visit with some peach wine. The fragrance compliments the summer nicely, and is said to be made with care by the brewer of west wind brigade

8th shopping district center's Charasin also came to discuss things with Shiroe.

Charasin propose hiring a people of the land to handle the administrative duties of the round table council... which is mainly mailing and clerical works.

Asking an adventurer to sit in a office and deal with menial work is hard and expensive. The two of them decided that they should move in this direction.

Charasin express that he plans to ask the people of the land he has in mind and left with a smile.

Battle guild leaders who spent the most time is surprisingly Black Swords Knight's Issac He came with a few summoners from his guild without invitation, says "Hey, black heart glasses, this is a convenient and spacious place, lent it to me to do some battle simulation,"

Before Naotsugu has time to complain, the summoners conjured 'fairies of flowing water', and flooded the 1st and 2nd floor with water, washing it thoroughly. In this world with no tap water, this is a great help.

Issac finished the fruits Henrietta brought and left. But chief Nyanta said softly "black sword knights are not bad guys nya", which left a deep impression on Shiroe. Perhaps this is the way Issac wants to restore his relationship with Shiroe.

The reason Shiroe decided to buy a building... this building for his guild, half of it was this.

Since he is a member of the round table council, he will have quite a number of guests. The people in his friends list is also increasing every day. Some friends was not added because he want to deepen his friendship with them, but for the chance of increasing his networking, so he needs to add them for future telepathy use.


There will be a lot of visitors from now on, and it may involves long discussion and talks. It is uncertain if there will be grand events similar to the setting up of the round table meeting, but if that happens, the kitchen, workshop and storage are all necessary rooms.

Shiroe considered all these factors, that's why he chose a spacious building in the outer edge of the city.

"This is what they mean by 'being big environment can be flexibly used for small things'."

"And it seems like Naotsugu likes tall places."

"Shiroe, it's because you are like this that Akatsuki keeps bullying me and call me stupid. My stock market price has fell to the limit." To Shiroe, Naotsugu is the friend he can talks most freely heart to heart. Even when they chat about pointless things, he can feel at ease.

"Okay, Shiroe and Naotsugu stop bickering, if we don't clean up we won't be able to make it to dinner nya."

"Curry? Is today's menu curry? I love curry!"

"Stupid Naotsugu, it is indeed curry today."

"Is that so? Yahoo!"

Nyanta and Akatsuki joins the conversation.

In Shiroe's long experience playing Elder Tale, he has join guilds before. But now he understand that he was there as a guest, he was not really a member.

He cannot view the tag of a guild as the same level with the home for him and his companions.

He need to treasure it from the bottom of his heart and protect it.

He already learned this reason in the tea party. Instead of caring whether the group has the tag of a guild, it is more important to form camaraderie in their times together.

When ever the city is dyed in the red light of the sun, Shiroe will have a special feeling. When it is a game, the evening is just a special effect on the screen, but that is not so in this world.

The group of black birds returning from the forest let our a loud and lonely cry as they flew past.

The adventurers returning from their raids walked along the shops on either side of the main pave way into the central square. teams with good loots discuss their future plans in high spirits. Parties that did not do well swore to clear their shame of failure next time. The abandoned building and ruins cover with vines are dyed dull red. These warriors and the production players in the city, both the adventurers and the people of the land, leaves their long shadows on the ground.


This week, it seems that even dusk has its fragrance as well.

The many shops sells dinner to the tired adventurers and the production players who have spent the whole day working. In the bar operated by the people of the land, not only are the beer tasty, they also provides simple dishes as well.

As the night becomes apparant, the red bronze sky changes to a deep rose color gradually, then into dirty green and finally blue. In this world where night comes later than the old world, the citizens have already finished their work for the day, and is preparing for tomorrow.

"My lord, the first star is out."

"That is not important, I am so hungry that I cannot move anymore."

After finishing moving the things, Akatsuki and Naotsugu chill besides the window.

In this dusk before the lights came on, the two partners turn and look at Shiroe.

Their calm expression made Shiroe believe that this is his home.

The tea party is now gone from his heart, this process have taken a very long time. If he compare the two, he will unconsciously hurt many people and places, Shiroe reflects on this.

He did not understand such a simple thing, and took such a long detour, he feels so useless. Shiroe reproach himself this way, but the two of them just give him a strange look and ask :"My lord, what is it" "Are you hungry? Hunger is so dangerous."

"Hmm? Where is the chief? He's not back yet?"

Shiroe perk himself out, discovered that Nyanta is not around, and recalled that he was out purchasing spice.

"Now that you mentioned it, the chief is slow today. Could he be shopping on the streets and eating? [1]"

"That is not funny at all."

As Shiroe listen to the two bicker, Shiroe is still concerned. At this moment, a calm and slow voice came from the floor below :"Shiroe...Naotsugu...Akatsuki nya...."

That should be the chief.

Is the things too heavy? No, that shouldn't be the case in this world. The 3 discussed as they made their way to the stairs. In the moonlit and empty first floor, they saw a shape that looks like it is made by wires... Nyanta.

"Chief, what's up, I'm hungry, let's eat some curry...."

"Yes, I am hungry master."

Naotsugu and Akatsuki pop the upper half of their body from the top of the stairs saying these words like a child. Nyanta laugh heartily "Nya hahaha", and push the two things behind to the front.

"....Eh"

"Ano...Ano..."

"Isn't this Toya and Minori?"

The twins shaman girl and samurai boy, their face is so red that you can tell even in the night. The two of them tidied their hair and changed into clean equipment over the past week is being encouraged by Nyanta.

"I saw them wandering round and round the building when I returned from grocery shopping. If it was me I would be turning into butter candy nya."

"Are the two of you alright? Crescent Moon Alliance is moving today right?"

Shiroe ask them. Crescent Moon Alliance is also moving to a guild hall 2 levels higher, there should be a celebratory feast after finishing the move. Marielle who likes lively atmosphere won't let their 2 cute new members wander around in the night.

"We are fine Oniichan, that is...."

"Yes?"

Toya looks at Shiroe who is halfway down the stairs, and let out a loud voice that he usually uses.

"...We came to let Oniichan take us into the guild."

"Ah....?"

"We want to become Mr Shiroe's student... the Crescent Moon Alliance has been taking good care of us for the past week, but we didn't join their guild... not even now. Toya and I are the last two beginners who left Hamelin that is without a guild."

Minori added in details to her brother overly direct words.

"We have worked hard thanks to Oniichan lessons. If Oniichan starts a guild, we also want to join. I might be weak now, but I will become stronger."

"We might trouble you... But we decided not ot use this as an excuse, please let us join you."

"Ah... that is..."

Maybe they will be rejected.

What will happen to them then?

The twins who force out these words with all their might is so tense that you will feel nervous just looking at them.

Shiroe heard of the harsh conditions in Hamelin. They are new players to Elder Tale and have no friends to rely on, this must be a hard experience.

If they stayed in Crescent Moon Alliance, there must be many comrades with the same experience, and of similar level, and they will be treated well. But the two of them declined joining Crescent Moon Alliance, and came to Shiroe with the risk of having no where to go if they are rejected.

Shiroe is unable to understand their feelings, but he can feel their do or die determination.

The last week of Elder Tale being just a game was spent together with them, Shiroe do not know what he said during this period that made them like him so much.

He never thought he would become a guiding post for others, Shiroe doesn't have such experiences before, so he was silent when facing their request, unable to give a proper reply.

Nyanta gazed at Shiroe, his slit like eyes filled with gentleness and slowly becoming a line, and says with a kind tone.

"Shiroe, don't daze off, you are the guild master nya..."

Guild master.

Master of a guild.

Leader of a guild.

That's right, he is correct in saying that, Shiroe realized. Because he is too familiar with his companions and they understand what each other is thinking about, Shiroe don't feel like a guild master even after forming a guild.

He was never a guiding post for others before.

He has been using others to guide him all the while, but he have never imagined that he will become a guiding post too.

Shiroe turn and look at his two hungry comrades who is sticking their heads out. Naotsugu is sticking up his thumb and saying "Of course." Akatsuki is nodding her head with a gentle expression.

"Alright, we, the log horizon guild welcomes Toya and Minori to join. The first task of the new comers is to eat curry with the core members of the guild... Are you ready?"


"Yes!" "Oniichan!"

Adding in the two tender voices, the members have increased to 6.

In the alternate world which used to be a game called Elder Tale, a new guild was officially made.

...The guild was named Log Horizon.

In the rural area of Akiba, where a old tree pierced though an abandoned building, this was where the small group of companions lived.