1

“Forest Ragranda?” Touya’s voice pitched louder.

From the name, it sounded like a dungeon. When Touya hit him with that inevitable follow-up thought, Naotsugu told him, “It’s not like a dungeon, it is a dungeon. Don’t be dumb.”

The sky had been lavender up until a little while ago, but now it was dyed deep indigo, and the field of the abandoned school where the group had decided to stay glowed red in the light of several bonfires.

Tonight, they were having a barbeque to celebrate their arrival at the base camp.

All the participants—around sixty, from what he’d heard—had gathered in the schoolyard and were noisily enjoying their meal.

It was August. The land had been scorched by the sun during the day, and it held on to that heat. However, the dry night wind felt good on their skin, and although they were sweaty, it wasn’t that unpleasant.

Naturally, the food was superb.

Everything Captain Nyanta cooked was delicious, and when they ate in a big group this way, the atmosphere was indescribable. Touya had always loved this sort of thing. When he thought back, he seemed to remember pestering his sister, Minori, because he wanted to eat things served at the food stalls on festival days.

Minori had been bustling around handing out drinks, but when Touya waved her over, she came running. “What is it?”

“Hey. Minori. It sounds like we’re going to a dungeon. Did you know that?”

“What? A dungeon?!”

Minori cried out in surprise, just as Touya had a moment earlier.

It was a three-week summer camp, after all. They’d naturally assumed there would be combat training, but they hadn’t expected to go to a dungeon right off the bat.

“Me, too?” At her words, Naotsugu nodded.

“I know it’s gonna be a stretch for you, Minori. You’ll feel better being on a team with Touya than you would if you fought on different teams, though, right?”

“Well, yeah.”

Touya nodded vigorously. Touya and Minori were twins.

In terms of exact birth times, Minori was technically older, but as far as Touya was concerned, just being older didn’t make her his guardian. The feeling that he was a guy—and his big sister, a girl—was stronger. Since that was the case, although he wouldn’t call himself her guardian, he did think he was the one who should do the protecting.

They’d be teaming up the whole time they were in this world anyway, so they might as well be together right from the start. More than that, Touya thought, if his sister got pulled into some kind of trouble, he couldn’t even imagine not being able to be right there with her.

“Yes, that’s…true.”

Apparently his sister felt the same way. She nodded, meekly.

“Mew could go with the coast group if mew’d like, Minoricchi, but getting used to dungeons will put you mew in good standing later,” Captain Nyanta said to her. He’d come up carrying a big, square platter piled high with grilled horse mackerel.

“The coast group…? What’s that?”

Nyanta answered Minori’s question with a courteous explanation:

Apparently, even though they were all newbies, there was quite a spread in their abilities. During the summer camp, there were plans to use this abandoned school building as a base camp, then split them into smaller groups by level, and put them through a variety of courses.

Players whose levels were extremely low—less than 20—would be fighting wild animals in the area around the school and giant crabs at the coast. They’d be accompanied by leaders and healers, so they’d be quite safe, and they should be able to accumulate experience nicely.

However, they’d be going up against solitary targets, and they wouldn’t be forming parties. This was because, when working together as a party, if you didn’t know what sort of special skills your main class had, what you could do with them, and which situations they were best used in, players couldn’t combine their strengths. That was another reason for putting them through individual special training at this stage.

As a matter of fact, lots of the campers—Minori included—had gone down to the beach that afternoon, to “observe” it. True, Marielle had dragged them along with her, but they’d ended up playing at the shoreline in swimsuits. Minori felt a bit bad about that.

They had pushed all the work of setting up camp and carrying luggage onto the guys and had frolicked without a care in the world, as if this was vacation.

Marielle and some Crescent Moon League girls she was friends with had even had fun playing with a beach ball. “Wahoo! This is great! This’s so much fun! It’s summer, y’know? Summer means swimsuits! Talk about happy,” she had proclaimed loudly. Her power to pull people in was truly fearsome.

Her bombshell figure was fearsome as well, and Minori had been just a little ashamed of her own childish swimsuit. However, if she’d overreached her style choice, that would have been embarrassing, too.

Adventurers whose levels were between 20 and 35 would undergo combat training in parties. There would be two types of battles: outdoor and indoor. The outdoor training would be held at the nearby Kaminasu Reservoir.

Meanwhile, the indoor training would be held in Forest Ragranda, the dungeon Touya had just heard about. It was located roughly half a day’s journey from where they were, toward the peninsula’s mountains. They’d be camping there during their dungeon expedition, and in a way, it was the hardest of the training courses.

Since there weren’t many players whose levels were 36 and over, they’d be doing individual training. They’d be based out of the school building, and would receive instruction and tips on combat from high-level players. Every player was supposed to aim for level 40.

Touya’s combat level was 29. At Hamelin, he’d been made to work as vanguard for a hunting party, so he had passable skills.

Forest Ragranda, an underground ruin, reportedly held enemies with a wide range of levels. Players between levels 20 and 35 would be tackling this dungeon; Touya’s level of 29 put him right in the middle, and it was likely that he had some difficult battles ahead of him.

When he imagined it, Touya felt the will to fight building inside him.

On the other hand, his sister Minori’s Adventurer level was 21. Her level in her subclass—Tailor—was 32, which put her far ahead of Touya’s subclass, but that wouldn’t help her in combat. In terms of level, Minori would be forced to struggle hard. I’ve got to protect her, Touya thought.

“Well, we’ll explain all that directly beforehand. If your levels are twenty-nine and twenty-one, your balance isn’t that bad. All mew have to do is use your special twins’ teamwork to fill in that gap.”

Captain Nyanta squeezed kabosu citrus juice over the grilled, salted horse mackerel and began happily munching away. Possibly he’d been released from cooking duty for the day: He poured liquor from a jar into a bowl, which he then drained, looking truly satisfied.

“A dungeon, huh… I’m getting psyched!”

Touya couldn’t stop the excitement from bubbling up inside him.

While he’d been Hamelin’s captive, he’d gone hunting outside the town, but because of the round-trip distance and the balance of their skills, he’d never gone into a dungeon.

Dungeons in Elder Tales weren’t necessarily underground prisons, as the name implied. Dungeon was the general term for enclosed structures in which monster battles were fought, such as ruins and castles, fortresses, towers, temples, and caverns.

Many dungeon zones were ruins from the Age of Myth, relics of the magic civilization, or simply natural caverns. Since these ruins had been turned into zones that were bases of activity in the wilderness, it was easy to identify invasion routes. There were many security advantages, they were sturdy, and therefore demand was high.

In this case, demand referred to demand from the monsters.

Many dungeons ended up being inhabited by monsters, regardless of the intent of their creators or those who had abandoned the space. Demihuman races who were intelligent after a fashion—such as orcs, goblins, and ratmen—settled in them and used them as fortified strongholds. Magical beasts such as Owlbears and Chimeras simply used these zones as dens, the way bears used caves.

Monsters with high intelligence, such as dragons and some high-level undead, were known to choose dungeons with high difficulty levels as places to hide their treasure.

Even though Touya had yet to invade a dungeon, he’d been part of Log Horizon for two months already. During his time at the guild house, he’d become great friends with Naotsugu and Nyanta, and they’d told him all sorts of things about battles in Elder Tales. Over the course of listening to them, he had accumulated a fair bit of dungeon knowledge.

Naotsugu said that battles in dungeons are way harder than field battles!

Touya was all fired up.

Naotsugu was Touya’s current master.

Shiroe was Touya’s benefactor and teacher, but when it came to weapon attack techniques and vanguard skills, he couldn’t compare to Naotsugu. Yet even then, Shiroe had considerable knowledge, so he could probably have taught Touya what he was supposed to do.

However, Log Horizon currently had Naotsugu, and Naotsugu was an outstanding warrior. His history in Elder Tales rivaled Shiroe’s, and even on the server, his experience was top-class. He was a Warrior, too, and Shiroe had recommended it, so at present, Naotsugu was teaching him.

Touya liked Naotsugu just as much as he liked Shiroe: He had a friendly personality that masked the age difference between them, and yet he was reliable, one of the good guys. Touya thought that men really needed to be about that, and tough.

Having been taught thus by Naotsugu, Touya was very conscious that battles were something to be challenged.

Someday I’ll tackle my first dungeon and be on my way to becoming a full-fledged Adventurer. Saying the idea hadn’t been on his mind would have been a lie.

“Okay, Minori! Let’s do this! Starting tomorrow, we hit Forest Ragranda!!”

“Oh, Touya. …Honestly. I will catch up to your level, just you wait.”

Minori seemed to have prepared herself; as she watched Touya, her expression was brave.

The two of them bumped their fists together in a greeting they’d shared since they were small.

The flames of the bonfires that crackled and snapped in the Zantleaf schoolyard that night seemed to give their blessing to newbies, and the resolve and determination they held that focused on the training set to begin on the morrow.

2

The following morning. Minori and the others were making for the hills at the center of the Zantleaf peninsula.

There were no steep mountains on the peninsula. Instead, the whole area was covered with rolling hills. There were headsprings all through the countryside, ranging in size from puddles to ponds, and their pure waters flowed into the Great Zantleaf River, or directly into the ocean.

Even though it was only a few dozen kilometers away from Tokyo in the old world, in Elder Tales, it seemed like an untamed paradise.

In fact, even before they reached this place, they’d spotted lots of small, wild birds they’d seen before in the old world, such as bush warblers, Japanese tits, and crested kingfishers. They’d also seen deer. Wild animals like these could now be found all over the area controlled by the Japanese server.

The trees also reproduced vigorously. They didn’t see any sacred, ancient trees like the ones in the town of Akiba, but Minori and Touya were deeply moved at the sight of several thousand magnificent Japanese cedars that stretched up into the sky, trees so thick they couldn’t reach around them even if they linked hands.

Minori and Touya had been born and raised in Tokyo. Up until now, they had never felt the overwhelming power of nature.

The sight left Minori speechless, but Touya kept repeating the word “Awesome!” over and over, with his mouth hanging open.

How can my brother have such a tiny vocabulary? As his sister, it’s a little embarrassing…

That was what she thought, and she meant it, but on the other hand, the fact that he was able to honestly express surprise and delight warmed her heart.

Their destination, which they reached after going up and down many, many hills, was a clearing where the trees had been cut away. When she kicked at the leaf mold that covered the ground with her toe, she exposed stone paving. At the edge of her field of vision she could see a huge, leaning torii gate, bleached nearly colorless by its long exposure to wind and rain.

Apparently this had once been the grounds of a shrine.

The fourteen members of the group who had journeyed here together dismounted from their horses, gathering in the center of the cleared square. They’d left the camp at the abandoned school before dawn and had reached their destination a little before noon.

They’d stopped to rest several times on the way. Minori hadn’t imagined that journeying through mountains would require so much time.

In the center of the group of newbies stood Naotsugu, Nyanta, and Lezarik, a male Cleric who’d been sent by the Knights of the Black Sword.

Nyanta pointed at the opening of a big stone cavern that they could all see.

“That’s Forest Ragranda. The zone inside is quite extensive, but… Generally speaking, if mew turn right at the first T crossing, mew’ll reach a slightly easier area, while if mew go left, mew’ll find yourselves in a slightly more challenging area.”

The newbies looked at the mouth of the cavern and gulped.

To tell the truth, Nyanta hadn’t had to point it out to them. Their eyes had been riveted on the hut-like, underground entrance made of giant stones ever since they entered the small clearing.

Snakelike vines tangled around the opening, and although it was tattered, a ritual straw rope was strung across it. However, there was no hint of anything sacred in the air. All that was there was something rotten and poisonous, something that could only be called miasma.

“Oh, uh… You’ll run into some small magical beasts in there, but most of the monsters are undead,” Naotsugu commented, as if encouraging caution.

Undead.

It was the general term for monsters that, for various reasons, had been unable to die completely, or were driven by astral energy which had been bound to this world due to a curse or some other malicious reason.

Skeletons and Zombies were typical examples, but the term also included some monsters—such as Banshees—that didn’t have physical bodies.

“This is a camp to hone your skills, and knowing your own limits is a skill. Always keep the way out in mind, and come back to the entrance when mew decide it’s time.”

“That’s right. Take real good care of your lives.”

Nyanta and Naotsugu both cautioned them.

“Naotsugu, Nyanta, and I will set up camp here and wait for you to return. We’ll camp in this clearing, and you’ll go into the dungeon every day. There’s no need to capture it all in one day. I’ll recover your health if you come back to camp, so don’t worry about that.” Lezarik was a stern-faced man, but apparently he was good at looking out for others, even so. He spoke as if to reassure them.

“Huh?! You’re not coming in, master?!” Touya yelled.

In response, Naotsugu grinned at him and nodded.

“Well, duh. This is a drill for newbies, yeah? It wouldn’t be much of a drill if you had a veteran along. You’re a vanguard; you know this stuff. If I was the tank, you wouldn’t get any practice.”

This was true, come to think of it, but Minori still shrank back a bit.

It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Touya; not at all. On the contrary, she’d heard that Touya was an excellent tank (for a beginner, anyway). If anything, Minori was worried about her own recovery power.

Touya couldn’t fully display his all-important stamina if the number of recovery spells he could get was limited, could he?

Still, since Naotsugu and Nyanta, their instructors, were saying this, she couldn’t object. No doubt they were leaving it to them because they believed they could do it, and in that case, it was their duty to live up to those expectations.

The other newbies looked worried, too, but they were probably thinking the same thing. They all nodded.

Next, they split into teams.

Since the dungeon diverged into right and left sections inside, the eleven newbies were divided into two groups, one with higher skills, one with less advanced skills. Naturally, Minori and Touya were in the lower group. Their faces tense, Minori and the others split into two parties according to the list the Cleric read off.

The lower group, Minori’s group, was made up of five people.

Since the maximum group size was six members, they were at a disadvantage in terms of combat strength. However, since there were only eleven members, one group would inevitably have five people.

The cornerstone of the vanguard, the one whose job it was to draw attacks and delay the enemy, was Touya. He was a Samurai and Minori’s younger twin brother, and his level was 29.

The middle guard was Isuzu, a tall girl who was a Bard. She and Minori had been friends since their days in Hamelin, and now she belonged to the Crescent Moon League. She was a cheerful girl with freckled cheeks, and, unusually for a Bard, she used a two-handed spear. She was three years older than Minori, which meant she would have been in high school in the real world. Her level was 24.

There were three rearguard players.

First, a young male Sorcerer. Apparently his name was Rundelhaus Code. He wore a flashy robe, and his affected words and gestures made him stand out. It sounded as if he didn’t belong to a guild. That probably meant he was a solo player. His level was 23.

Next was a Druid named Serara. She’d taken care of them on the day they escaped from Hamelin. When Minori had talked with her, she’d discovered that their levels were similar, and they had quickly become friends. She was also in high school, which meant she and Isuzu were close in age. Serara seemed to have a crush on Nyanta, and she’d ridden beside him for the entire journey here. Her level was 25.

Then there was Minori herself, a Kannagi. She was a healer, and her level was 21, which made her the weakest member of the party. Shiroe had taught her that actions in battle had nothing to do with level, but she couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable.

The one bright spot was that the Druid Serara was also in her party. Even if Minori didn’t have enough recovery strength, if she was with Serara, she knew they would get by somehow.

I wonder if Captain Nyanta arranged things this way because he knew that, too.

“All right, for the next fifteen minutes, I want mew to hold strategy meetings.”

Nyanta clapped his hands and called “Go!” ending the orientation.

Minori and the others straggled into a group, still not entirely sure what was going on.

When she glanced up, the more advanced party—whose average level was about five levels higher than Minori’s group—had also formed a huddle a short distance away.

“Umm, so… What are we supposed to talk about?” The moment the group was together, Touya spoke.

“Don’t ask me.” Isuzu looked around the circle, her eyebrows raised in incredulous confusion.

“Hmmm. I expect that’s it. My friends: Shouldn’t we simply build our enthusiasm?” Rundelhaus, who held a two-handed staff, spoke with what seemed to be complete confidence. The young man had blond hair and blue eyes, and it made him look like a picture-book prince, but as far as Minori was concerned, he seemed a bit too much like a pampered rich kid.

“Um…”

“Oh, yeah! That’s gotta be it! We’re heading into battle, after all. It’s a dungeon, people! A dungeon!! Getting psyched up is key!!”

Interrupting Minori, Touya grabbed both of Rundelhaus’s hands and shook them vigorously. “That’s right! I see you understand! Enthusiasm is vital! Elegant grace is important as well, but the essence of men is enthusiasm and hot blood!”

Getting Touya’s support seemed to have encouraged Rundelhaus. For some reason, they were really hitting it off.

Although I think we were supposed to discuss patrol file and formation…

“I see. Yes, let’s do our best! It sounds like we’ll be training in this dungeon for a week, plus we’re teammates!”

Isuzu scrunched her freckled face into a cheerful smile. I really can’t say it now…

When she sneaked a glance to the side, she saw that Serara looked slightly troubled, too. Still, there was no help for it, and when she smiled at her, Serara smiled back. That alone was enough to relieve Minori a little bit.

While Minori and the others were having their discussion, the advance party had gone straight into Forest Ragranda. Minori noticed only because Nyanta loudly called out, “Go give it your best!”

Unconsciously, Minori squeezed both hands into tight fists.

It had been two months since their escape from Hamelin, and Minori hadn’t spent that time doing nothing. On the contrary, she hadn’t really taken to being a Tailor, the subclass she’d been forced into at Hamelin, and she’d neglected it in favor of training under Shiroe, with Touya.

She had only been level 12 at first, and thanks to the training, her level had climbed to 21. However, Shiroe and the others had often lectured them about the ill effects of leveling up rapidly, and she thought that the pace of their practice had been relatively slow.

More than anything, Shiroe and the other high-level guild members had always been there to watch over them in battle.

This time, although a relief camp had been set up outside the dungeon, they would have to explore it—and fight in it—on their own. She couldn’t have been anything but nervous.

She didn’t think she was afraid of losing.

She was afraid to disgrace herself.

The thought that she might waste Shiroe’s training seemed to turn her knees into sponges; they felt weak and shaky.

“What’s wrong, Minoricchi?”

Finding herself addressed suddenly, she started and looked up. There was Nyanta’s calm face, his eyes narrowed in their usual smile. His expression was inquisitive, and Minori shook her head vigorously. “It’s nothing!” she told him.

Seeing her, Naotsugu chuckled. “Geez, Minori. You’re such a worrywart.

“Listen up. If you run into trouble, step out in front. With your heart, not with your legs. Promise me, Micchi.” Naotsugu dropped a hand lightly onto Minori’s head, then walked away to speak to the other members.

Minori watched him go.

Naotsugu and Nyanta went around encouraging each member of the party and giving them advice. Serara was so moved she almost hugged them. Rundelhaus told them, magnanimously, that they could leave everything to him. Touya promised to bring back souvenirs. Isuzu gave an energetic bow of thanks.

“Okay, guys, there’s probably enough distance between you and the first party by now. Get in there! Give it your best shot!!”

And so Minori and the others headed into their first dungeon.

3

The morning after the ball, Shiroe’s group had breakfast on a spacious terrace.

The terrace balcony where Shiroe’s delegation had gathered held a variety of ornamental plants, and the summer sun shone brightly through its crystal canopy.

The terrace itself was about the size of a small conservatory, and three tables were lined up on it. It was an astonishingly luxurious space.

The menu was orthodox, consisting of fresh bread and eggs sunny-side up, cheese and ham, jam, honey and butter. There was salad, an assortment of fruit, and several types of beverages. Each was presented beautifully.

Shiroe would have been perfectly happy with rice mixed with raw egg for breakfast, but this hotel-style breakfast held absolutely nothing to complain about. In the words of Michitaka, the production guild member: “Hmm, well, it’ll do.”

For the past two months, cooking techniques and the level of cooking in Akiba had been advancing by leaps and bounds. Although he had no idea what sort of tricks they were using, the other day a shop that served beef rice bowls had appeared, stunning Shiroe.

Processed seasonings that resembled soy sauce and miso were hitting the market one after another. From what he had heard, factors related to fermentation and maturation meant it would take years for their flavors to improve, but the taste was so welcome to tongues that had grown accustomed to awful food that it brought tears to their eyes.

“Nn. Pass the jam, my liege.”

Akatsuki spoke to Shiroe; her tiny mouth was full of bread. Apparently her idea of “ninja loyalty” was a bit different from the rest of the world’s, and aside from her calling him “my liege,” their relationship was a very candid one.

“If you don’t eat some salad, too, your skin will get rough, Akatsuki.”

Henrietta was itching to meddle with Akatsuki, but Akatsuki seemed poised for flight on her chair.

“What a fine morning this is, eh?!” Michitaka interjected.

As he said, the sky was a particularly beautiful blue that morning.

No wind blew on the glass-enclosed terrace, but the canals that ran here and there kept it cool, and the summer made itself known, not by its heat but by its bright, sparkling light.

“Indeed it is.”

“Berserker” Krusty was calmly drinking tea with milk. His attendants were also eating their preferred breakfasts. When they’d first arrived on the terrace, the three tables had been farther apart, and the caliber of the breakfasts laid out on them had clearly been different.

It probably mirrored the difference between “nobles and their families” and “servants” in the eyes of aristocratic society.

However, the party hadn’t paid any attention to that. They’d moved the tables closer together, passed the basket of bread around equally and were eating whatever they liked. If there wasn’t enough to go around, all they’d have to do was take some of their travel rations out of their packs. As a matter of fact, some attendants were drinking special thick, green drinks, even though (or because?) it was morning.

“This certainly is elegant. I assumed they’d prepare lodgings for us, of course, but I never dreamed…”

Henrietta’s words trailed off.

The previous night, after the ball, the lodgings they’d been shown to had been more of “a wing” than “rooms.”

One wing in the southeast corner of this floor of the palace held twenty rooms. In addition, it was equipped with small conference rooms, this terrace, a dedicated bath, a game room, a common room, and several reception rooms.

“Still, this is…hm.”

“What, Shiroe?” Michitaka asked.

“Michitaka. Is anyone who came with you a Chef?”

“Well, yeah. What about it?”

“It would be a good idea to have supporting Chefs and service supervisors, and we should have ingredients brought in. The group brought in for support should be no fewer than three and no more than six, and they’ll have to be skilled.”

“True,” Krusty said, responding to Shiroe’s words.

“What are you talking about? I don’t think they’re gonna poison us.”

Michitaka sounded perplexed. Shiroe answered him.

“No, I meant that all this space is probably intentional. …They’re assuming we’ll be receiving guests. The conference lasts about ten days, and I thought that was long, but various things are beginning to make sense. No doubt they will hold a big conference of sorts, but before that, there are probably going to be a lot of separate conferences or requests to chat—tea parties, if you will.”

“That’s probably true. As a matter of fact, I did get a number of invitations to tea during the ball yesterday.”

“Come to think of it, yeah.”

“I kept my responses vague, though.”

As Krusty finished speaking, his expression was as cool as could be. Still, under the circumstances, it wasn’t likely that the invitations would stop, and depending on the situation, some might be practically forced on them. Shiroe suspected they would need to prepare for it.

“I wonder what’s going on with today’s conference. …Hey, Caille.”

“Aye-aye, General Manager, sir.”

Michitaka called to one of the members he’d brought from his own guild. He ordered the young man he had called Caille to discern the schedule for the day’s conference events. He also reminded him not to forget to gather information.

Caille left energetically, and Shiroe, Michitaka, and Krusty returned to their tea. The three of them were seated at the same table. The others were at tables near enough that they would hear right away if spoken to, and it was safe to say they were sharing the same conversation.

“…Looks like the situation’s more complicated than I thought.”

Krusty and Shiroe nodded, agreeing with Michitaka.

Eastal, the League of Free Cities, was composed of twenty-four noble houses. The addition of the Round Table Council would make it twenty-five. Their territories were scattered all across eastern Japan. Each regent noble had their own territory; most controlled only one fortified city, the farmland that surrounded it, and several smaller villages.

The largest of these was the City of Maihama, under the control of Duke Sergiad. Even then, its population was only about thirty thousand.

Of the three girls who had debuted at yesterday’s ball, the remaining two were the daughter of Marquis Lester of Ouu and the granddaughter of Sugana, Lord of the Free City of Iwafune. The populations of both cities were around ten thousand each, which meant they were about average as far as nobles went.

Akiba had a total population of twenty thousand, of which fifteen thousand were Adventurers. Viewed in that light, it was easy to see how great a force it was. Setting aside the combat abilities of individual Adventurers, in terms of population alone, the town of Akiba was one of the five biggest cities in Eastal.

In addition, in this world, even in eastern Japan, there were countless tiny villages that weren’t under the protection of a specific noble or territory.

It wasn’t that these independent villages had objected to the rule of a lord and rebelled. On the contrary: In this world filled with monsters, they would have liked to be protected as citizens if possible. Apparently the lords were unable to send soldiers from their central cities due to distance and other reasons.

The role of a lord was to protect the safety of his citizens and territory. In some cases, in exchange for that safety, they collected taxes.

Of course, crimes occurred even within territories, and monster attacks probably happened as well. However, these unforeseen situations were completely different from not being able to muster an army large enough to provide protection.

If a village was less than a day’s journey on horseback from the lord’s castle, it could probably be protected, but it would require a constant military presence to protect villages that were farther than that.

Journeys and travel in this fantasy world took more time than one would think. In practice, rapidly mobilizing small units and using them to protect a wide area was an impossible feat.

Viewed the other way, there were lots of farming people living in this world who were not under the protection of a noble. If the lords could only obtain sufficient military power at low cost, they would be able to collect far more taxes.

Well, just knowing the general circumstances means all the information gathering was worth it.

To that end, the nobles had set their sights on the Adventurers.

This was why, even in the days when Elder Tales was a game, a huge number of quests had involved guarding villages or travelers and wiping out monsters.

Even if they had been rather like mercenaries, with a one-time payment, they could commission tasks that they didn’t have enough regular soldiers to perform. They could even take it a step further and contract out duties that normally belonged to regular soldiers. If they did, their regular soldiers would be able to go to a different region or fight on a different battlefield.

In fact, it hadn’t been at all unusual for lords to rely on Adventurers when an independent settlement that wasn’t under their protection was attacked by demons or demihumans.

Ever since the Catastrophe, Shiroe and most of the other players had been very busy trying to understand the circumstances, survive and retrain themselves. Naturally, the demand for Adventurers in these independent settlements was probably growing. In addition, it was likely that the lords were aware that the Adventurers had touched off a technological revolution in Akiba and elsewhere.

“It looks like this lot wants to curry favor with us. Not that I can’t see why.”

As he added honey to his hot tea, Michitaka spoke for all of them.

“Now I understand what you meant, Shiroe. ‘Our relationship with the People of the Earth’… We really did need to put measures in place here. If Akiba had stayed confused under these circumstances, there’s no telling how they would have tried to undermine us.”

“It’s still too early to let our guard down,” Shiroe responded, sounding glum. “There’s a good possibility that they’ll begin trying to undermine us now.”

His insight, although it erred a bit on the side of the fantastic, was showing him several bad scenarios.

“For now, let’s leave the talk about undermining for later. We can’t do anything unless we know the other guys’ basic action plans and what approaches they’re going to take.”

“True… What do you think, Shiroe?”

Responding to Michitaka and Krusty, choosing his words carefully, Shiroe began to speak of the situation he’d been processing since the previous night.

“I think it’s already fairly clear what the nobles are after. Initially, they came to gauge how ambitious the Round Table Council and those of us in Akiba were. That and, although this isn’t a nice way to put it, they wanted to see how barbaric we were. However, I think we can probably assume that these were resolved to a certain extent at yesterday’s ball. At the very least, they know we’re intelligent enough to hold a conversation, and that we seem to have common sense.

“Given that, their next goal will be to curry favor with us. Naturally, they’re likely to give Krusty or the Round Table Council a noble title. As far as they’re concerned, there aren’t many disadvantages to that. If there’s a cat, it should be belled. I think we can assume that all the nobles are in agreement on that point. Of course, there are probably many nobles who are jealous or feel rebellious. Still, they’ll put that off as a decision that’s already been made, and in the stages before that, they’re likely to begin making individual attempts to win us over.”

When Shiroe had gotten that far, the crystal door to the terrace opened and Caille, the young man from the Marine Organization, returned. He seemed to have managed to find the information: When Michitaka nodded to him, he made his report.

“They say we’ll be officially contacted about it after noon, but apparently the lords’ conference for today has been cancelled.”

Hm, nodded Krusty. When Michitaka urged him to go on, Caille continued.

“From what I heard from the palace’s servants—and apparently the servants take care of this palace year-round—the lords’ conference is like this every year. It begins with a ball, and then there are lunches and tea parties, soirées and dinner parties each day. That’s why they bring so many attendants. Apparently our party is relatively small, and so is the amount of luggage we brought. That’s why we have all those rooms left over. Then, for a few days right before the final day, the lords’ conference is held, the matters everyone laid the groundwork for earlier are discussed, and they wind things up quickly with the majority in favor.”

Shiroe nodded.

Come to think of it, even though there were twenty-four participants, there were large differences in their power and the size of their territories. Rather than holding repeated lords’ conferences and fielding majority votes and objections, factional maneuvering built around individual interviews and separate deals would make for a much smarter discussion. In Japanese terms, this was known as “laying groundwork,” and it wasn’t at all unusual.

“Since that’s the case, beginning today, the schedule for the next few days is pretty clear. Of course, Akiba has high combat capabilities. Every lord knows that if they fought us one-on-one, they’re the ones who’d be destroyed. As that’s true, although they’ll be very careful about approaching us, anyone who manages to secure the Round Table Council as an ally will be able to reap a huge return in this world as it is today. As Krusty and Michitaka said earlier, we’ll probably get more invitations and requests for separate interviews. I’m sure we’ll see scores of attempts to attract or employ Akiba’s military power, financial strength, and people, as well as the products and items we’ve invented. For now, we’ll have to get through these negotiations.”

“And we’ll need a basic action plan for that… Hm.”

At Shiroe’s words, Michitaka scowled. This was quite a knotty problem in its own right.

“As the Round Table Council, we can kick every offer to the curb, turn down every last thing. However, there are probably combat and production guilds who will want to take advantage of those commissions, and some guilds will. Guilds aside, players could even undertake jobs as individuals. It won’t be possible for us to be vigilant down to the details. For example, buying something from Akiba’s Market and selling it off in another town isn’t the sort of thing we can stop by forbidding it. The same goes for combat-related requests. If they ask us to supply five thousand mercenaries, we can tell them it’s impossible and can probably refuse, but if someone asks to hire a few Adventurers, even if we veto it, if there are players who will undertake the job, that’s that.”

“I expect that’s true,” Krusty agreed.

Akiba’s new system was finally settling into place. Over this two-month maturation period, many Adventurers had begun to get used to combat in this other world. The backup systems, with a focus on food, were also falling into place.

The next wave would be the exploration of the world. Discussions of investigating the Fairy Rings would also begin to take shape. When that happened, the opportunities for every guild to accept quests and commissions would increase. That freedom should be guaranteed.

“If distribution seems likely to happen on too large a scale, we may have to consider tariffs… What do you think, Miss Henrietta?”

“…Well… Economics isn’t my specialty, so I can’t declare anything with confidence. I’m just an ordinary accountant, you know. However, at this point in time, what strikes me is that Akiba is not a town of primary industry. It isn’t a place where we can harvest abundant crops or marine products. If distribution is going to cause any sort of trouble, it will probably be in processed exports. If we limit ourselves to imports, there won’t be any trouble. On the contrary, we’ll be in trouble if we stop importing.

“Regarding exports though, considering the transportation in this world, I think we’ll need to be most careful with items that are relatively scarce but have great influence. Something that may cause larger issues than those is an outflow of techniques, or of people who know those techniques.”

As Henrietta commented, she adjusted her glasses.

After thinking about her words for a little while, Shiroe continued the conversation. “You’re right; for the moment, that’s also… Well, we should probably have the Round Table Council discuss it and decide how to handle it after the conference ends. However, I don’t think we should completely refuse to speak with the lords.

“To that end, tell them there are plans for the Round Table Council to establish a contact for discussions of dispatching military force, technology provision, and exports, and that it’s going to happen soon. If they deal with that dispatch contact, their requests will be considered and they’ll receive an answer. …That should be a safe response. Of course, after the conference ends, we’ll need to create the contact. If there’s no more than a certain amount of routine work, it should be possible to create a system to handle requests practically. For example, if it’s a request to exterminate one hundred goblins in the mountains, the job can be assigned to suitable combat guilds under the contact’s supervision. …That sort of workflow. With regard to commerce, an order for two hundred sets of dishes can be handled by the contact as well. If we get a request the small and midsized guilds can’t handle, then we can convene the Round Table Council and take it under consideration.”

The idea Shiroe had worked out was to coordinate the former quest system through the contact-point person.

“Sounds doable to me.”

“I think it’s reasonable as well. There shouldn’t be any issue with us advancing matters at our own discretion up to that point. I’ll report in via telechat.”

Michitaka and Krusty both agreed.

“However, I don’t think the nobles will be satisfied with something like that. If they can’t get the Round Table Council to move as a whole, they’ll probably try to conclude secret pacts during the period of the lords’ conference, even if it’s only for commissions directed at the Marine Organization or D.D.D. In order to deal with that… We’ll just have to handle things on a case-by-case basis. Just make sure not to give them any way to trip us up.”

Shiroe’s words ended there.

He couldn’t set up any specific countermeasures for this. Decisions would have to be made on the spot, so although he could propose guidelines, he couldn’t issue tactical instructions.

“I suppose that’s our job,” Krusty agreed generously.

His calm and sense of reassurance were everything you’d expect from the leader of a big guild. His natural charisma was showing through.

“You mean get information out of the other guy, but be careful not to make contracts by mistake when we do it?”

“Yes, I think that’s the best line to take.”

Henrietta also agreed with Michitaka.

After that, the staff who’d accompanied them joined them in brainstorming countermeasures for several foreseeable situations. After they confirmed with each other that they could anticipate bribes and backroom deals, and that information should be exchanged as secretly as possible, the delegation’s breakfast came to an end.

4

Raynesia’s mood was flying low.

“Flying low” was a figure of speech; in reality, her mood was very close to rock bottom. She couldn’t actually be at “rock bottom” in the usual way, because she was the granddaughter of Duke Sergiad, the greatest noble in the east.

In other words, her station didn’t allow her to hole up in her room by herself and be depressed.

The expression “rock-bottom depressed” evokes images of being in such low spirits that moving is impossible, but she had dedicated ladies-in-waiting who were with her constantly, and every morning they dressed her and sent her off to all sorts of functions. What she wanted didn’t come into it.

In that sense, rather than being “rock-bottom” depressed in a fixed location, she was “flying low”: depressed, but on the move. Privately, she thought this wasn’t very different from being dragged around.

Haaah…

She sighed.

She was in one of the many midair gardens of the Ancient Court of Eternal Ice. She’d forced her ladies-in-waiting to leave her alone there. It was just past noon.

…She didn’t think there were any tea parties during the day today, but after sunset, there’d be a dinner party. She would have to join her grandfather, Duke Sergiad; her father, Phenel; and her mother, Saraliya, as they greeted several nobles and showed them every courtesy. It wasn’t a very difficult thing, and it wouldn’t require much work, but it made her heart terribly heavy.

She drooped limply, resting her forehead on the summerhouse table.

It wasn’t that anything particularly painful had happened.

She’d been born with this temperament. She was timid and shy, she worried over silly little things, she was pessimistic and apathetic. That was how she thought of herself.

She was the sort of person who, if left alone, would stay in a corner of her room counting the stains on the wall and find it soothing. You might say she was gloomy, or that the cheerful aspect of her personality was tragically lacking. She knew it was strange to say it herself, but seen from a human perspective, she thought she was the sort of girl people really wouldn’t want to be around.

In terms of appearance, Raynesia had long, silver hair and a delicate neck. She was a slender, lovely girl. In particular, her eyes, which tilted down at the outer corners, were a deep blue-gray that seemed filled with a mysterious melancholy. Her bust and the other key areas of her figure were modest but substantial enough to assert her femininity. She was well within the preferred range, and not many men would have denied that she was beautiful.

Ahh…

That said, the shape that slumped over the table in the summerhouse looked for all the world like a dismal failure of a human being.

Even she had heard her beauty praised by those around her, and she was aware that it happened rather a lot.

However, she assumed that 50 percent of the praise was said out of consideration for her grandfather, Duke Sergiad, and that the other 40 percent would be possible for anyone who bathed every day, had her hair dressed, and wore makeup. …In other words, her appearance was maintained through aristocratic privilege, and the thought made her feel a bit guilty.

The remaining 10 percent or so did make her think she might be passably attractive. However, hearing things like “What a fragile princess she is!” and “Ladylike and filled with melancholy” disillusioned her at a stroke.

I’m not “filled with melancholy,” I’m just gloomy. I’m not ladylike, I just don’t feel like doing anything… That’s right…

As she thought these things, she slumped facedown on the table, feeling masochistic. She thought that fretting over things like this day in and day out made her a rather complicated, tiresome person, but since she couldn’t stop, there was no help for it.

“Any army with a commander like yourself is truly fortunate, milord. Such power is the equal of the Eastern Knights.”

“…No, our martial strength isn’t that great. We still have lots of issues, particularly where our system of immediate response is concerned.”

The approaching footsteps and voices seemed to belong to nobles.

One of the voices, the middle-aged one, sounded flustered. The other was younger, but it exuded a sense of calm strength.

The second she heard the voices, Raynesia sat up straight in the summerhouse.

The palace was brimming with conspiracies, and as a daughter of the House of Cowen, she mustn’t show weakness. Raynesia was contrary and apathetic, but she wasn’t the sort of girl who couldn’t protect her family’s honor.

“Please do pay a visit to my domain. Oh, and will you join me? There’s some liquor from my hometown. The sun will be down before too long; let’s have a drink.”

“Hm. Liquor isn’t really… My apologies, but…”

With a rustle, several figures appeared on the path, rounding the corner of the rosebushes.

Of the two figures in the lead, the one on the left was Marquis Kilivar of Tsukuba. He was in charge of the town of Tsukuba, where the academic guild was powerful, and he was reputed to be a man who’d seen much of life. From their clothes, the people who came after Marquis Kilivar were probably his steward and ladies-in-waiting.

The other, the one who walked beside Marquis Kilivar, was a young knight—no, he looked like a knight.

His close-cropped hair and glasses made him seem intelligent, but he was big and solidly built, and he carried himself with the alertness peculiar to those who live on battlefields. He was only strolling, but the overwhelming presence he exuded made him seem like a young general.

That man… I saw him yesterday.

Raynesia’s memories flickered.

He was one of the Adventurers her father had told her about. She hadn’t been able to greet him personally, but she remembered that her grandfather had talked to him at great length. According to her father, “For better or worse, that man will be the eye of the League’s storm.”

There was a good distance between the passing group and Raynesia.

To them, she probably looked like a princess from somewhere or other who was enjoying tea in a cottage on the edge of the garden. The idea relieved Raynesia slightly. As long as she bowed, she probably wouldn’t get pulled into any bothersome conversations.

However, just then, although it was probably a coincidence, her eyes met those of the man who looked like a young knight. Raynesia bowed on reflex. She wore the smile her castle’s young knights said was “As lovely as a flower in the rain.” The expression always went over well, and Raynesia used it as a handy way to gloss over all sorts of things.

At that, the young knight stopped for a moment and smiled. …Or she thought he had. The light had reflected off his glasses, making it hard to tell what the expression really was.

“As a matter of fact, I have a previous engagement. Marquis Kilivar. My apologies.”

“An engagement? What sort of… W-well, Princess Raynesia!”

The man was heading straight toward the summerhouse where Raynesia sat. In all honesty, she wasn’t happy about it. In fact, she froze up.

There was no hesitation in the knight’s stride, and it seemed to make Marquis Kilivar believe his story about the promise. For a few moments, he looked from the knight to Princess Raynesia and back. Then he said, “I mustn’t be boorish. We can’t have that. I’ll excuse myself, then, Lord Krusty. Let us continue deepening our friendship on another occasion,” and left hastily.

The knight he’d called “Krusty” turned back to Marquis Kilivar in the door of the cottage and bowed politely in response. When the other man was out of sight, he entered the veranda where Raynesia sat, frozen and bewildered.

…Wow. He’s really tall…

His height had to be over 190 centimeters. She’d seen well-built knights at the castle as well, but even with that physique, there was nothing coarse about this young knight, and his logical profile actually seemed refined.

“I, um. I am Raynesia, daughter of the House of Cowen of Maihama. Might I ask… What promise?”

“Ah, yes. My name is Krusty. I’m an Adventurer.”

As he spoke, the knight sat down just around the corner of the table from Raynesia.

The summerhouse had several built-in marble benches that were topped with leather upholstery and down-filled cushions. The rather low table, made of the same marble, was a splendid thing meant to facilitate the elegant enjoyment of tea.

“The ‘promise’ was a convenient fiction. If I’ve made a nuisance of myself, I apologize.”

The young knight spoke as if he didn’t feel sorry at all.

In other words…he used me? This man really doesn’t seem like a bad person, but…

Raynesia couldn’t guess the man’s real intentions. However, if her father’s words had been correct, this young knight was “the eye of the storm.” She mustn’t be rude to him. Obediently, like the aristocratic daughter she was, she waited for Krusty to speak.

“You just thought What a pain, didn’t you?”

“What—?!”

At Krusty’s words, Raynesia froze up.

“Not only that, but when our eyes first met, you thought, This is turning into a nuisance. Am I right?”

“—!”

This time, Raynesia was completely petrified. Krusty smiled at her. His smile was intelligent and mild, but to Raynesia, there seemed to be something demonic about it.

“Wh-wh…”

“‘Why’? Instinct. I have a little sister back home, you see. Her attitude is similar, so I understand,” he murmured.

There wasn’t anything bullying about his manner. He spoke indifferently, simply stating the facts, as if reporting research results.

…Th…Th-th-this person is bad?!

“No, that isn’t true. Fu, fu-fu-fu.” Raynesia smiled her most ladylike smile, but her movements were stilted, as though she were a machine that needed oiling.

“Don’t be nervous. I’m not going to eat you.”

“So you say…but…”

“The lords have been hounding me all morning. If I’m with the granddaughter of the venerable Duke Sergiad, they should hold back a bit. Would you talk with me for a while?”

“Well…”

To be honest, she didn’t feel like it.

It was a pain, and a little bit scary.

This calm young man seemed to be reading not merely her intentions but her mind, and Raynesia felt as if she’d never be able to look him in the eye.

If she hadn’t been a daughter of the nobility, she would have abruptly apologized: I’m terribly sorry. I’ll be more careful from now on. Please forgive me. —She wasn’t sure what she was going to be careful about, but she was beginning to want to say it.

But I haven’t felt that way since the time Grandfather scolded me…

“You just thought, I don’t feel like it, didn’t you?”

“Eek—”

He’d read her again.

Raynesia was suspicious: Was this Adventurer a Brain Eater? How could he be so perceptive? It was enough to make her want to cry. However, Krusty was smiling like a perfect gentleman.

“Don’t worry about it too much.”

“Um, would you care for some tea…?”

“I would, thanks.”

Krusty nodded. As she got out the tea items that had been placed in the summerhouse beforehand, Raynesia considered her plight. If this was how things stood, there was no help for it. Her heart was very heavy, but it wasn’t because she particularly disliked this young knight. She felt this way whenever she had to meet strangers, period. Besides, even if she ran from this young Adventurer, she’d still have to talk to other people when evening came.

Lazing around in the summerhouse was probably better than going to tea parties or being dispatched to what amounted to marriage interviews with other lords’ sons.

This Adventurer seemed to be abnormally quick on the uptake, and since that was the case, she’d be able to get by without being on her best ladylike behavior. If he was already on to her, then there was no need to hide anything, was there?

With that thought, Raynesia made tea for two, then slumped back down onto the marble table again. Once she dropped her polite facade, Raynesia was shameless enough to be able to do things like this without a blush.

Fu-fun… Let’s see what you make of this.

The daughter of a dukedom rested her forehead against the marble, enjoying its cool. There was a gentleman present, but she was ignoring him completely, not even attempting conversation. Could there be any greater luxury? No, there could not. Raynesia was certain of that. Three cheers for solitude. Three cheers for being left alone. They could take having to make eye contact with strangers and feed it to their horses.

However, although one minute passed, then two, Krusty seemed to be doing nothing more than quietly enjoying his tea.

She could hear birdsong.

That twittering… Was it perched in a tree in the courtyard? Or was it bathing by the water?

Still, this man isn’t at all attentive, is he…

If a young lady of noble birth had her head on the table in front of him, any normal knight—or rather, any gentleman—would have said something solicitous to her immediately. If she said she was feeling unwell, it was likely that he’d chivalrously escort her to her rooms and have her ladies-in-waiting sent for. Depending on the situation, he might call a doctor instead, or a specialist in curses.

However, the young man who called himself Krusty showed no sign of doing any such thing.

“At the moment, I’m attracting a great deal of attention at the palace. If you tell them we were having tea together, you’ll have a tailor-made excuse for skipping functions and tea parties. Your parents will commend you for it, too.”

At Krusty’s words, Raynesia’s thoughts froze for a moment.

As their meaning sank in, her cheeks flushed bright red. She was very glad she had her face pressed against the marble table. In the past few years, even her parents hadn’t seen her this flustered.

Between the embarrassment, the desire to run away, and an oddly sweet sense of relief, she thought her knees would go weak.

What Krusty had just said was the very reason she’d stayed to drink tea with him.

“I’m only talking to myself. Pay no attention.”

Raynesia couldn’t even answer. All she could do was keep her pink face against the table.

5

Forest Ragranda.

It was dark inside, but contrary to expectations, it wasn’t cramped.

The ceilings were three to five meters high, and the corridors were easily three meters wide. The walls were made of hard stones, possibly granite, that were fitted closely together.

A faint scent of mold hung in the dry air.

“I’ll call up a light.”

Rundelhaus chanted the Magic Torch spell, summoning an orange-tinted light.

“Is it okay to have light? Won’t it make us a target?”

Isuzu sounded worried, but Rundelhaus countered her easily: “It won’t matter.”

“If most of the monsters here are undead, they’ll identify us with magic and by the frequencies of our souls, even in the darkness. They’re the only ones who’ll have an advantage in the dark, so it’s actually better to have light.”

With that comment, Serara also summoned a light using her Bug Light spell.

Having multiple light sources was a standard tactic. If they had only one magic light ready, and that magic user got taken out by a surprise attack, the spell’s effect would abruptly break off, plunging them into darkness.

“Rrgh! Mine’s brighter!”

However, Rundelhaus didn’t seem to know that particular tactic. He hastily summoned another magic light, competing with her. Smiling a little wryly, Serara explained the tactic to him.

Rundelhaus had been indignant at first, but once he’d heard the explanation, he seemed quite satisfied. “Oh, well then. It wasn’t that my light was weak. Of course not: I’m excellent. Ha-ha-ha-ha!” he laughed.

It made Minori think he might be surprisingly prone to getting carried away.

After following the corridor around several corners, they reached a room.

Cautiously, the group peeked into the room through the arch, searching for any sort of presence, but when nothing happened, they went in timidly.

“This is…”

Possibly because there was a gap somewhere, the stone-flagged floor was covered in fine sand. There were signs that a midsized group had walked around on the sand, and bones were scattered across it.

“It looks as if the earlier group fought Skeletons here.”

Minori was examining the traces on the floor as she spoke. The scene seemed to rise up behind her eyelids.

The many scattered footprints, the marks as though something had been dragged, and the white bones showed Minori what the battle had been like. The fighting probably hadn’t lasted more than a minute. It must have been a cinch. In most dungeons, the monsters near the entrance had comparatively low levels and were easily dealt with.

“I see. Well, that means we probably won’t run into any enemies until that T junction, anyway.”

With that, Touya started walking, taking the lead.

It was just like her little brother to sniff the air from time to time, wrinkling his nose, searching for smells.

Speaking less and less as they moved on, the party reached the first T junction. As they’d expected, the footprints that had gone ahead of them turned left.

“……”

Rundelhaus clicked his tongue in vexation. Touya nodded in agreement, staring down the left-hand corridor. Minori thought hard; she didn’t get it herself, but the two of them seemed to share some understanding.

“We’re going this way today. Let’s go.”

“Yes, but don’t imagine I’ll be turning right forever,” Rundelhaus said, responding to Touya.

At Touya’s voice, the party turned right. This probably marked the beginning of the real training. They’d entered territory where they would have to be wary.

“I’m…pretty nervous.”

“Me, too.”

Minori spoke quietly with Serara, who walked beside her.

In a place this quiet, there wasn’t much point in keeping their voices down. Even if they were quiet, if something was around to hear them, they’d be heard.

However, maybe because of the darkness and the oppressive feeling in the dungeon, the atmosphere seemed to swallow them up, and even though they knew it wasn’t necessary, their voices grew quieter and quieter, until they were whispering.

“—!”

It was Touya, walking in the lead, who noticed them first. He’d seen four Skeletons who seemed to be sentries walking toward them down the corridor.

On reflex, Touya drew his sword and prepared to leap at them.

“Touya!”

In the same moment, Minori yelled at him, urging him to restrain himself.

Leaping at them now was what the old Touya would have done.

Touya probably knew that as well. His two months of training with Log Horizon had improved him, too. Pointing his katana at his opponents’ faces, he swung it once with a low yell.

A flash of light.

The deep crimson shock wave released from the sword’s tip crashed into the Skeletons.

The shock wave didn’t appear to have caused much damage to the Skeletons, but even so, as the writhing bones shed fine fragments, they seemed to have noticed him. They approached rapidly.

The technique was Izuna Cutter.

As a rule, Warriors weren’t good at long-range attacks. This was because their job was to draw enemy attacks on the front line. However, since there were some situations which couldn’t be handled that way, they did have a few long-range techniques.

Izuna Cutter, used by Samurai, was one such long-range offensive technique. Of course the damage was practically nothing compared to attacks from the true long-range attack classes—Assassin’s bows or magic users’ spells. However, the fact that they could attract enemies’ attention without charging into their midst was convenient to Warriors in a way that had nothing to do with force.

That effect seemed to have worked well enough. Illuminated by the magic lights, the Skeletons charged down the corridor toward Touya, their movements eerily smooth.

Three of the Skeletons held axes, while one held a bow. It had looked as if all four were charging as a group, but the Skeleton Archer stopped at a point about five meters away.

Touya took a wide stance in the center of the passage, exposing himself to the three Skeletons’ attacks. The ax-wielding Skeletons surrounded Touya in a C shape, then began paying out attacks one after another. It was the mechanical, emotionless action peculiar to the undead.

“Here I come!! Take that!!”

Touya attacked as if he meant to mow down all the Skeletons. It was Whirlwind Cutter—one of the Samurai specialties: a big technique with a long recast time.

In an instant, the Skeletons collapsed, falling on their rears.

However, they hadn’t gone down without a fight. As a parting gift, each seemed to have hit Touya with a well-aimed attack. In that one instant, Touya had lost about twenty percent of his HP.

“Purification Barrier!” “Pulse Recovery!”

Serara’s and Minori’s unique recovery spells flew through the air almost simultaneously.

A single-player, shock-resistant barrier that looked like a pale blue mirror formed around Touya. Minori’s Damage Interception spell was a barrier that intercepted damage equal to 15 percent of Touya’s maximum HP. In other words, even if he took those three attacks again, he’d get by without losing more than 5 percent of his HP.

Serara’s Pulse Recovery spell was continuously recovering Touya’s HP like a strong heartbeat. For fifteen seconds, it applied a continual recovery spell to the target, meting out HP nearly every second. It would take about ten seconds to recover 20 percent of his HP.

It was safe to say that these two spells guaranteed Touya’s defense.

“And now it’s my turn! Eat this!!”

The thing Rundelhaus’s fingertips had generated was about the size of his fist…but it was still a ball of liquid lava, boiling hot.

“Orb of Lava!!”

Once unleashed, the ball of lava didn’t simply travel straight ahead.

It punched through one Skeleton from the front, then made a right-angle turn, piercing the Skeletons one after another. The extreme heat carbonized the undying monsters, and the bones crumbled or blazed up in an instant.

Rundelhaus’s class, Sorcerer, was one of the magic-user classes, and in a sense, it was their perfected form.

It was distinguished by ferocious attack power; just as Assassins aspired to extreme damage with weapons, the goal of the Sorcerer class was extreme damage with magic.

Unlike Summoners, they didn’t use their own magic to summon and use beings from other worlds. They also weren’t good at amplifying other players’ power the way Enchanters did. The magic Sorcerers used was something more primitive and powerful—they converted their own magic directly into destructive force. In many cases, this destructive energy took the form of flames, ice, or lightning, and by blasting these straight at a target, they annihilated the opposition instantaneously.

Along with Assassin, the class boasted the highest attack power of all twelve classes. Many people felt that being able to choose an attack attribute put it one step ahead of Assassin, where you simply struck with weapons.

“Huh? What? …Whoa~!!”

Rundelhaus cried out in surprise.

The ball of lava had run through the enemy, and as if to follow it, a ball of rainbow light flew from the tip of his staff and inflicted additional damage.

“Yesss! It worked!”

Isuzu beamed.

Bards had many special skills geared toward support. From the other classes’ perspective, Bards’ distinguishing feature was their overwhelming number of special skill variations. In terms of diverse support for allies, even Enchanters were a step or two behind Bards.

The Continuous Support song Isuzu had chosen for that day’s adventure was Circular Carol. Its activation key was “Ally’s magic attack hits home,” and it granted the ability to perform an additional attack of the same kind automatically.

“This is fantastic! This was you…? Miss Isuzu, the, erm, Bard? My spell’s artistic destructive power has been raised to destructive force of mythic proportions! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!! Grazie! Nice play!”

The support seemed to have boosted Rundelhaus’s mood considerably. He sent a thumbs-up in Isuzu’s direction and gave a wink so huge it had its own sound effect.

Rundelhaus was blond and handsome in a Western European sort of way, and when he did these things enthusiastically, he seemed like a Hollywood actor. It looked so right it was actually a bit of a problem.

He spoke quite arrogantly, possibly because he’d grown up as a pampered rich kid, but there was absolutely no malice in his words, and deep down, he didn’t seem to be a bad guy.

Besides, what incredible force…

That ability to annihilate marked him unmistakably as a Sorcerer. Touya had initially pared down their HP with a range attack, and he’d had support from a Bard, but even then, he’d managed to wipe out three Skeletons in a single attack.

In Elder Tales, it was very rare for battles to end this easily.

For example, if Touya fought a monster at his level one-on-one, he’d need to attack ten or more times in order to finish it off. The recovery classes were weak when it came to attacking, and Minori would have needed to attack more than twenty times.

Although these had been rather weak opponents to Rundelhaus, annihilating them at a stroke meant his attack power was truly outrageous.

…But.

“Wait, th-there’s still—!”

“What’s wrong, Miss Minori? You haven’t fallen in love at the sight of my beautiful spell, have you?”

As Rundelhaus turned, putting on airs, one of the Skeleton Archer’s arrows struck the back of his head with a thwok!

“Ah.” “Ah.” “Oh, my.” “Crap.”

“Wh-what’s going on?!”

Quickly, Rundelhaus turned around again.

His attack had hit all four Skeletons, but Touya’s initial attack hadn’t reached the Archer. Thanks to the difference in the amount of damage, the Skeleton had survived.

“Grr, you blackguard!!”

“I-I’ll recover you!”

Minori chanted Small Recovery as an emergency measure.

Probably not wanting to give the enemy time to attack, Touya launched himself at their foe.

However, this was a mistake. Having come farther out front, Touya was spotted by another group of Skeletons at the corner of the passage and ended up attracting enemy reinforcements.

When it came to annihilating the enemy, the Sorcerer’s high attack power was a formidable weapon. However, it wasn’t invincible.

Those towering offensive abilities stirred up monsters’ hate. The greater the threat a player was, the more likely monsters were to see that person as a priority target that had to be destroyed. On top of that, as was the fate of all magic-user classes, Sorcerers had only paper-thin armor and meager defensive abilities.

An additional five Skeletons had appeared from around the corner. Between those five and the Skeleton Archer they hadn’t been able to destroy, there were six.

Not only that, but since Touya had stretched the front, their formation was pulled into an unstable line.

This is turning into a melee! —No, stop it; times like this are when you need to stay calm. First cast an Overall Damage Interception as insurance…

But her thoughts were already far from calm.

Powerful special skills like Overall Damage Interception took a long time to chant. While this was going on, apparently unable to wait, Rundelhaus had unleashed an attack spell and pulled the enemy’s attention away from Touya. Getting past Touya, who’d been building the front line, the Skeletons managed to break into Minori and the rest of the party’s defensive formation.

The Skeleton Archer mounted long-range attacks, sending its arrows at Rundelhaus over and over, and the fragile Sorcerer’s HP plummeted toward the red zone.

The narrow passage was now the scene of a full-fledged melee.