INTERLUDE

However…

On the final day of the Libra Festival, in the dead of night, Shiroe left his guild members and went walking alone.

The place was a ruin in the south of Akiba, on the outskirts of town. Through a steel roll-up door that was buried in rubble, a damp, humid staircase stretched away. When this building had existed in the Age of Myth, the space had probably held the boiler and water tank. Countless pipes crawled across its bare concrete walls.

Shiroe had come here for a reason.

He was here to rendezvous with Oshima, an old acquaintance whom he’d planned to meet during the festival. Oshima had been ferreting out information about the Holy Empire of Westlande for him, and, assuming the worst, they were limiting their number of telechats. In addition, since he had items to give him as well, they’d planned to meet and exchange information in person, but he felt vaguely uneasy.

Shiroe advanced cautiously through darkness enveloped in stifled silence, moving by the weak light of the Magic Light he’d summoned with a whisper. He opened a door with a metal plate that had CONTROL ROOM written on it. The space behind it was more livable by human standards than the outside had been.

“”

“You’re Master Shiroe, aren’t you? I’m Dariella. I’m a Person of the Earth, and I work as a travel writer…”

However, the person who waited for Shiroe in the room wasn’t the one he’d been expecting.

Long, wavy black hair. Deep red lips and eyes like polished obsidian shone in a white, egg-shaped oval. A voluptuous body that looked as if it would be soft no matter where you touched it was squeezed into a robe woven with a geometric pattern of indigo and red, and even though she was only sitting on the sofa, she seemed to be slowly wriggling.

The woman was so beautiful that one glance was enough to spark an intense magnetism.

As far as “beautiful” was concerned, Akatsuki was a beautiful girl as well. However, the beauty in front of him exuded an attractiveness that was equal to Akatsuki’s, yet different in nature.

Shiroe didn’t ordinarily give much thought to women’s looks, and even for him, the glamour this beauty held was enough to make him feel drunk. Even though he had no such intention, his cheeks were growing hot.

“The ‘Oshima’ you’re waiting for has been unavoidably detained, Master Shiroe… I’m here because I was asked to deliver the message and report in his place.”

That was right: Shiroe had promised to meet Oshima the Adventurer here. Oshima was a young male dwarf with a small but agile-looking build, not a beautiful, black-haired woman.

DARIELLA / SECOND-CLASS CITIZEN / LEVEL 10

The information Shiroe confirmed on the status screen supported what she’d said. For that very reason, Shiroe shook his head, which was threatening to sweetly mist over, and managed to force his voice to work.

“…That’s a skill I’ve never heard of. What sort of camouflage is that, Miss Nureha?”

A gloomy underground control room.

The room wasn’t that large. A heavy silence fell between Shiroe and the woman on the sofa. As Shiroe stood, his entire body brimming with tension, the beauty giggled and squirmed, then sketched a small crest in the air with a fingertip.

As if to absorb Shiroe’s Magic Light, countless small, dark doves flew out of that beautiful black hair. No sooner had they flitted into space than they melted into the air. They were probably the effect of some unknown spell.

The woman’s fey, bewildering beauty was unchanged, but she now wore a jet-black gothic dress that might have been made from crow feathers, and she had ears and a tail that were snow white at the tips.

“Fu-fu-fu. Uu-fu-fu. …How did you know, Master Shiro? I shouldn’t think there’s any information about the Overlay floating around anywhere…”

“Instinct.”

Shiroe bluffed.

It was true that the woman in the basement room had been a Person of the Earth named Dariella. Her level had been only 10. Shiroe had confirmed this on her status screen. According to common sense in Elder Tales, that made it an established fact, and there was no way to overturn it. The only reasons Shiroe had been able to doubt it were information gained from a source in a system that was different from Oshima’s, and intuition.

Shiroe had been certain that at this very moment, Nureha was somewhere in Akiba. He hadn’t expected her to appear in front of him, but the idea that the cause of his worries had made an appearance made more sense than believing that the owner of beauty like that was just a Person of the Earth writer.

“Instinct…was it? But you did know my name, didn’t you.”

Nureha, the beauty in front of him, gave a bewitching laugh. Even though he knew who she really was, Shiroe couldn’t stop his eyes from being drawn to her.

“Won’t you sit down?”

Nureha looked up at Shiroe with dewy eyes. The angle made her white throat look defenseless, and Shiroe’s mouth turned down in a scowl. He’d thought he’d stare if he didn’t do that, and the idea had scared him.

“Don’t be so wary. I’m— Well, I’m as you see. I don’t even have a magic bag with me, and of course I’m unarmed. I’m all alone today. I only came to meet you, Master Shiro.”

Even as he remained cautious, Shiroe sat down on an office chair beside the door. Nureha continued speaking to him in a velvety voice.

“Isn’t that a bit careless for someone who rules the West?”

“I’m no ruler.”

Nureha smiled.

Softly, with an air of secrecy, she put an index finger to her lips. There was something girlish and sweet about the gesture. Her age didn’t seem to be much different from Shiroe’s, but although her beauty remained unchanged, the gesture made her atmosphere shimmer unstably. Just when he thought she was a voluptuous woman, she showed a profile like an innocent young girl’s.

Enchanting, but scary. That was what Shiroe thought.

There, like a riot of white flowers in pitch-black darkness, was a lunatic, sweetly intoxicating beauty.

After all, this woman was the guild master of Plant Hwyaden.

The beautiful woman who reigned at the top of Plant Hwyaden, an enormous guild that everyone knew existed, but whose true shape remained unclear: That was Nureha, State Councillor of the West.

It had begun about the time Shiroe had launched the Round Table Council.

Back then, Shiroe had been attempting to return energy and order to Akiba, which had been completely disheartened by the Catastrophe, and whose public order had deteriorated.

At the same time, a similar situation had occurred in Minami, the player town in the West. Chaos and depression and deteriorating order. There had also been an Adventurer who’d tried to change it, as Shiroe had done.

This had been Nureha, the disheveled beauty seated in front of him.

However, both the vision for self-government that she’d proposed and the means she’d chosen had been completely different from Shiroe’s.

Nureha had approached the House of Saimiya. The House of Saimiya were descendents of the Westlande Imperial Dynasty, which had ruled Yamato in the old days, and they boasted rank of the first order in Yamato’s aristocracy. Unlike the East, which was governed by the League of Free Cities, the Holy Empire of Westlande was ruled through centralized authority by the House of Saimiya, who lived in the city of Kyou, and by governing duchies.

Of course, these were People of the Earth governments, and ordinarily, they would have had no bearing on the Adventurers. He’d heard that, even after the Catastrophe, the Adventurers who lived in the West had taken no interest in the People of the Earth or their aristocracy.

However, Nureha had been different. She’d gotten close to the nobles and the House of Saimiya and had gained their favor. Her methods remained a mystery, but in any event, Nureha had used her charms to ingratiate herself with the People of the Earth, and she had sown poison.

Around the time Shiroe and the others had traveled to Susukino, the Guards of the town of Minami had become Nureha’s private army. Using the wealth of the People of the Earth, Nureha had also purchased Minami’s Temple zone.

Vast military might and power over life and death. Nureha had gained both these things, but she hadn’t put herself in the public eye. She advanced her plans quietly, peacefully, secretly. The guild she’d created, Plant Hwyaden, gradually acquired supporters, and before anyone noticed, it had grown quite large. Not only that, but its members were all veteran players and the strongest in the West.

Then, one day, Nureha had made a proclamation:

“All Adventurers living in the town of Minami must join Plant Hwyaden.”

A town that had no discrimination among guilds, because there was only one.

This had been the shape of the new self-government Nureha had created.

“My apologies for contradicting you, but you are the ruler of the West… Even if you do leave the practical business to Indicus, Misuha, and Zeldus.”

“I’m not leaving it to them, you know. Everyone simply does as they please. I have no intention of restricting them. I’m only giving everyone a place to belong… And in exchange, they protect me. That’s all I want.”

Her words, spoken in smooth tones, echoed like a siren song. Her sweet whisper sounded like soft words of love, and the seduction would have made anyone male want to listen forever.

“State your business here.”

“Such impatience, Master Shiro.”

“I know my place.”

“…U-fu-fu. Very well. If you say so, Master Shiro, I’ll match my pace to the gentleman. I—I came with an invitation for you, Master Shiro. Come to Plant Hwyaden. Come stay by my side. Walk with me, and protect me.”

“Why?”

“It’s just as I’ve said. I want you, Master Shiro. …It’s a rather embarrassing thing to discuss, but I’ve known about you for ages.”

That wasn’t a startling idea.

Both Shiroe and Nureha were Enchanters. Enchanter wasn’t a popular class in Elder Tales, and the play population was only half that of the average class.

In the days when Elder Tales was still a normal game, there had probably been about eighty thousand players, but as far as Shiroe knew, there had only been about two thousand level-90 Enchanters.

In MMORPGs, people are curious about other Adventurers in their class. What sort of equipment do they use? How are they training? How do they fight? Since it was a game, it was easiest to learn techniques and growth policies by studying players whose environments were similar to your own; basically, it was possible to learn from players who were more skilled than you were.

This way of thinking was very close to common sense for gamers.

There had been only a handful of Adventurers who had belonged to major guilds, had collected good equipment in raids, and were studying combat. If limited to Enchanters, the number dropped to about a hundred. With just one hundred people, it was possible to learn their names.

As a matter of fact, Shiroe had a fairly good grasp of the names of the ranker-class Enchanters on the Japanese server. This was how he’d known Nureha.

Like Shiroe, Nureha was an Enchanter who hadn’t joined a guild. Enchanters who weren’t affiliated with a major guild yet still participated in raids and exercised their talents were more of a rare endangered species than the Iriomote cat. They must have met each other two or three times. For a veteran player like Shiroe, an industry of one hundred people wasn’t large at all.

“…I know what you’re thinking, Master Shiro, but that isn’t it. I didn’t know about you because you’re an Enchanter, and that isn’t why I want you.”

“What do you mean?”

Nureha didn’t look away.

Fixing Shiroe with an enraptured gaze that seemed to pour something into him, she continued speaking. Her words were like knives.

“You discovered a new type of magic at Zantleaf, didn’t you? I don’t know the specific method, but… A magic that makes large-scale changes… You’re an extraordinary person, Master Shiro, so I expected you’d do something of the sort.”

“That makes two of us, then, doesn’t it? I don’t know how you did it, but you’ve reactivated your Town Gate. From what I hear, you can’t make free use of it yet, but even so.”

In the underground room, in the midst of an atmosphere so strained it was almost palpable, Shiroe and Nureha gazed at each other.

He hadn’t thought the matter of the contract technique had been leaked, but then Shiroe had information on the West’s new technology as well. Striking back against the blade of words that had been turned on him, Shiroe glared at Nureha.

“I knew you were special, Master Shiro. You know everything. The idea that you might even know what lies behind my veil makes my cheeks burn.”

“Enough flattery. …Information from the West is being blocked on your orders, correct?”

Plant Hwyaden was a stand-alone guild with strict controls. On the inside, it was an extremely sophisticated, finely structured organization.

He knew the slogan Nureha had used.

Get rid of the large guilds’ discrimination against the small and midsized guilds, restore public order in Minami, and work together to return to the real world. The most efficient way to make these things happen was for a single guild to organize it. Some aspects of Minami’s claims were true. Shiroe acknowledged their advantages as well.

However, due to that idea, Plant Hwyaden, which had been created for those reasons, had become a well-disciplined organization with sophisticated organizing ability.

In other words, it had become a clannish organization that didn’t leak information.

Since the Round Table Council took the form of a self-governing council of free guilds, it was necessary to hold debates openly. Disclosure of information was the foundation of debate. As a result, its movements were probably completely transparent to outsiders.

On the other hand, Plant Hwyaden was a single guild managed by an executive department, and it wasn’t possible to get a clear grasp of the actual form of its center. Shiroe was one of the most well-informed people in Akiba, and even to him, Plant Hwyaden’s full shape was riddled with mysteries. Most of Akiba’s Adventurers probably knew only that it was a creepy area run by a single guild.

The day’s original objective—meeting Oshima—had been to get new information on Minami and receive a few items.

“No. I said so earlier, remember? I believe in noninterference. The information blocking was Misuha’s personal decision.”

“Was that true of the processing saturation attack on Akiba’s Round Table Council as well?”

“Yes. That was a reckless, independent act by Malves, a shortsighted member of the House of Lords.”

As if he could believe that. Shiroe was about to tell her that was called tacit approval when, as if to block his words, Nureha touched Shiroe’s lips with a delicate white fingertip.

Shiroe hadn’t noticed her draw nearer, and he knocked her arm away.

“I came to invite you, Master Shiro. Would you come to me?”

“Soujirou’s the one to ask for that sort of thing. It isn’t my department.”

“Soujirou, hmm?”

A dangerous gleam appeared in Nureha’s eyes, but the next instant, it changed to a slightly troubled expression.

“I prefer you to Soujirou, Master Shiro. I think you’re more extraordinary than he is. I came to this town to issue an invitation to you alone, to entreat you alone.”

At those words, Shiroe felt as if his vision had gone pure white.

He sensed no sincerity from the woman in front of him.

He felt instinctively that she was made up of lies and sin. However, even though he knew, the temptation was enough to dazzle him. Even he thought his immunity to women was far too low.

Still, no one’s ever told me I was more extraordinary than Soujirou before, so… I’m so lame.

“…You won’t?”

“No, because it isn’t true.”

“…I wonder.”

Nureha spoke in a low voice, her eyes downcast.

The aura that had seemed to twine around Shiroe until now disappeared, replaced by a faint, fragile atmosphere.

“Then if I tell the truth, will you come to me?”

“I can’t make that decision until I’ve heard the truth.”

“The truth isn’t a nice thing, you know.”

With her expression as fragile as aged pottery, Nureha gave a husky laugh.

“…Very well. Because it’s you, Master Shiro. Because you’re special. Because you are special. Because there’s only one of you. I’ll have to show equivalent resolve, I suppose. Yes, I know. I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long, long time…”

Nureha’s words continued, like a curse.

“You see, Master Shiro, I’m…a homely woman.”

“Huh?!”

“I’m honored by your surprise, but it’s true. I was an ugly child: My eyes were large and staring, I was skinny and poor—all I knew was how to look up hungrily at those around me.”

Shiroe’s surprise was only natural. The beauty in front of him did have eyes that tended to be too intense, but if asked, anyone would have said she was bewitching.

However, her tale unfolded in a direction Shiroe hadn’t even considered.

“When I was in elementary school, I really was too thin. It wasn’t just that my ribs showed; it went far beyond that. The bones in my arms and legs showed, too. My hair grew long and unkempt, and my clothes were grimy. I was a dirty girl, more than an ugly one.

“When I began middle school, I grew, but I didn’t gain much weight. I was as skinny and bony as ever, and I looked up through my bangs at those around me with saucer eyes. That’s the sort of creepy girl I was, I think.

“That changed when…I believe it was in my second year of middle school. I happened to get my hands on a little money, and I finally started to eat proper meals. At first, even then, my body was reluctant to accept them, but ever so gradually, I gained weight… However, I was still skinny, just the same. I’d only gone from having a creepy body that showed its bones to being thin.”

That’s…

Shiroe thought it might have been some kind of abuse.

He also wondered whether the story was really true.

Even if Nureha had begun her tale by saying, I’m going to tell you a true story, it was far too late for him to trust her: Oshima wasn’t here. Through some unknown method, Nureha had gotten the information about Oshima’s meeting with Shiroe out of him, and she had gotten there ahead of him. That was an immutable fact.

Besides, no matter how gentle her voice was now, this woman was the guild master of Plant Hwyaden, the single guild that controlled Minami.

However, on the other hand, even if he’d been told, This story is a lie, he couldn’t have taken that at face value: If a liar told nothing but lies, they might just as well be honest.

Liars were beings who could tell the truth.

“I’d begun to care about my appearance, but even so, I was the sort of poor girl you’d find anywhere. Flat chest, skinny arms and legs. An ordinary face, except that my eyes were large. The most common evaluation I received at the time was ‘unlucky girl.’ Fu-fu-fu! I think it wasn’t simply my appearance they were speaking of. There was probably something inside me that couldn’t help but be called that… Still, even so: There were people who wanted me just because I was a middle schooler, just because I was young. I won’t excuse myself by saying I did it to live, or that I had no choice. Having people flatter and fawn over me made me happy, and I felt as if I were walking on air.”

In response to what he was hearing, a creeping revulsion assailed Shiroe.

Was it true?

If it was true, being in close proximity to something like that was unpleasant.

Is it a lie?

If it was a lie, then the woman who was going out of her way to tell him a story like that was unpleasant.

“Master Shiro?”

By the time he noticed, Nureha’s eyes were startlingly close. Nureha was looking up into Shiroe’s, smiling darkly.

“You see? The truth is dull, isn’t it? What purpose does this story serve? And in any case, what of this world is true? These bodies and the skills they hold are all nothing but lies, and in this world, the truth has less value than rubbish. Master Shiro. If you come to me, I’ll be your lover. Would that not please you? I have this body now. This white, warm body everyone admires. …Or don’t you like women like me?”

Shiroe tasted something salty in his mouth and realized for the first time that he’d bitten his lip.

His temperature was rising, and his face was hot.

The curves of her white bosom that showed through her black satin dress. The slim fingers that moved constantly, as if beckoning. A coaxing expression, melting tones. A fragrance like shortcake, so sweet it would make you want to eat it even when you knew it was poisoned.

“I had to please gentlemen with a meager body, so I’m practiced. …I’m good at lying, too, you know. If you only close your eyes to the fact that it’s a lie, I believe I can make you happy. Yes, until you’re satisfied. I’ll be at your side at sunrise, sunset, until the world fades into twilight…”

“Why?”

“…Are reasons necessary?”

“If I can’t think it’s real, there’s no point.”

“As I said, just accept that it’s a lie… Or fiction, in any case.”

Words so sweet they might have been smeared with honey fell from charming lips like pale pink jelly, pouring slowly into Shiroe. His eyes saw Nureha’s imploring, teasing, enigmatic smile and her swaying fox’s tail.

“…Fic…tion?”

“Yes. It’s fiction. That’s right. A made-up story—the story of a friend of mine, an older girl… One day, that girl encountered Elder Tales. It was a pastime far removed from the world in which she lived. Even so, she became fascinated by it. Do you know why?”

Shiroe didn’t.

He couldn’t answer.

“Because, in that game, she could have her ideal body. If she only had that, she’d be protected, and wanted, and be given things. The happiness she’d wanted so badly she’d nearly vomited blood would be hers. Because, in that world, she could have a beautiful face and a body that captivated the opposite sex. But you know… That’s funny, isn’t it? After all, it was only a game.”

Shiroe’s tongue was gummy; it seemed to be stuck to the inside of his mouth, and he couldn’t speak. Nureha went on.

“She…isn’t popular. It’s as though she was ugly, even in the game. Even with a matchless body and beauty, she hasn’t gotten what she wanted. —Well, it is an MMO: Just being a woman is enough to guarantee you a warm welcome, to some extent. It’s enough to ensure you praise. Still, even so, she doesn’t have as much as she wanted. For some reason, the people she wishes she had, the people she wants to make hers, won’t give her the time of day. Why do you suppose that is? There are women whose looks are much more ordinary than hers, and yet they’re far more popular. Just because they’re cheerful and optimistic, everyone protects them. There are girls like that, and yet…”

Nureha’s eyes seemed to have become jet-black caves that were trying to swallow Shiroe.

“She did her best, even so… She learned how to speak like a lady, so that men would be pleased with her. She studied the sorts of gestures men like. She tidied up her clothes and her hair. It’s silly, but she dressed up and went out, even on her days off. Just pitiful, isn’t it?” She snickered at that. “But still, it did no good. Oh, please don’t look like that. It wasn’t completely useless. You see, I can use the skills I acquired that way to entertain you, Master Shiro… That’s not a bad deal, is it?”

It was sweet, fragrant, gentle on his ears, enchantingly beautiful—but it was rotten. Yet Shiroe was fascinated by that illness.

Even though Nureha’s offer was fatally warped, it was dizzyingly appealing, and it had enough magic to captivate his soul.

“About my friend… Even so, one day, a day when she was in the depths of despair, someone spoke to her. ‘You’re very skilled,’ he said. ‘Even though you’re a solo player. You have my respect.’ …Another Enchanter said this to her. Well, Master Shiro? What do you think? Can you be satisfied with a make-believe story like this one?”

“That’s…”

Was it real? Shiroe couldn’t ask. He had no memory of any such conversation. However, he couldn’t declare that she’d made it up. He’d forgotten until he’d met her again just now, but he really had teamed up with Nureha to fight several times.

Because he’d had the Tea Party’s reputation behind him, Shiroe had often been called in by others to assist them in raids. It had probably been the same for Nureha. Enchanters weren’t all that necessary on ordinary adventures, but raids were long, and that made their MP recovery abilities very useful.

He couldn’t say they hadn’t had that sort of conversation when they’d met at one of those times.

Of course, the fact that he didn’t remember meant that, even if he had said those words, he could guarantee he hadn’t meant anything special by them. Shiroe wasn’t the type to try to win women over with words like those. He didn’t think he was that smooth of a guy. However, precisely because that was the case, it was possible he’d said that to her because it was what he really felt, without meaning anything in particular by it.

Shiroe couldn’t ask whether it was true or not.

Having forgotten seemed like a cruel betrayal.

“Master Shiro, please. Come be with me. I’ll prepare a place for you at Plant Hwyaden. I’ve asked the House of Saimiya, and preparations to grant you the title of Scrivener are already in place. The House of Saimiya eats out of our hand. You almost understand it, don’t you, Master Shiro? The Fraction. Our return to reality.”

At her words, in spite of himself, Shiroe gulped.

“Ah-ha! I knew it; you did react! You really are extraordinary, Master Shiro. We know, you see. How to return.”

There was no telling how far Nureha had read Shiroe. Whispering those words, she licked her red lips lightly with the tip of her tongue. When Shiroe averted his eyes from the seductive gesture, she giggled like a little girl.

“We’ve discovered a way to return to the real world.”

“You can’t prove it’s a way to return… Since you can’t prove it, you’re only making people disappear.”

“With your cooperation, Master Shiro, we could make it so that isn’t the case, could we not?”

To be honest, at this point, Shiroe was very near to agreeing to Nureha’s proposal.

It wasn’t because he’d been captivated by her.

It was because he was interested in the techniques and information Nureha had obtained. Nureha had unified the West. If he was with her, he’d be able to acquire far more information than he would by staying in Akiba. Whether it was acquiring information or developing new technologies, everything would be much easier to obtain if he used the power of the enormous organization Nureha had created. In terms of returning to the real world, it was an efficient path. It might be all right to call it the path that would benefit all Adventurers.

No, that logic was only an excuse.

What Nureha had held out to him was far too attractive.

Not her own body and beauty. Having someone call him extraordinary had firmly awakened a forgotten loneliness inside Shiroe. Having people need him was Shiroe’s weakness. That weakness had once made him a guest at many guilds, and at the same time, it had hurt him.

Nureha was crazy and dangerous: That was as clear as day. However, for that very reason, Shiroe almost accepted her invitation. Whether what she said was true or not, wasn’t he the only one who could stop her? There was a sense of danger about that, but at the same time, it was a sweet temptation that tickled Shiroe’s self-consciousness.

Shiroe felt responsible.

Even if Shiroe had no personal responsibility, the ache he felt, the one that resembled guilt, was an emotion with roots in responsibility. It was like a sense of guilt without an actual crime. The worst of it was that Nureha understood this as well.

“—In any case, Master Shiro, you don’t have a reason, do you?”

“A reason?”

Shiroe echoed the words. Nureha was gazing at him intently, feverishly.

“Yes, a reason. You are…a person without a reason, aren’t you? You have no internal reason for supporting Akiba, and no reason for supporting the People of the Earth, do you? A vague sense of ethics… Isn’t that all you have? No, it’s fine. That has no bearing on my desire for you, Master Shiro. However, I think it’s painful for you. So…”

At a distance so close they could have touched, so close he could feel her warmth, Nureha put her lips next to Shiroe’s ear.

“Make me, Nureha, your excuse, Master Shiro. If you do, you’ll be able to release your power completely, won’t you? You’ll be able to give full play to all that ingenuity, without being a slave to restrictions and regulations. All I want is you, Master Shiro. That means you can use me as a reason, as an excuse, to do all sorts of selfish things.”

The decisive words of temptation were also a farewell.

Give full play to his ingenuity. That was a big temptation. To Shiroe, who had abruptly found himself pulled into another world one day, had been dragged into deteriorating public order and trouble, and had made it through the panic of one danger after another, the desire to use that trend as a pretext to make his power felt had been as enormous as the stinging desire to touch the beautiful woman before him.

It wasn’t Shiroe’s fault they’d come to this world.

That feeling of blame was the scream of the souls of all the Adventurers who’d been summoned to this world: They wanted to know why. They wanted justice to be guaranteed. They wanted there to be meaning, somewhere, in fighting. It was likely that this anger at injustice blazed in the depths of the soul of every Adventurer.

Nureha had been right.

It was a temptation in the correct sense of the word.

However, he couldn’t view reasons and excuses as the same thing. That would be showing contempt for the results of those actions.

The contact of their fingertips, grateful smiles, the nightlong banquet that had been so much fun, having desserts pushed at him from all sides, adventuring across vast plains together… It would mean cheapening all these things.

If he felt any good will toward Nureha, if he felt even a little of anything that was the least bit like love, he shouldn’t use her as an excuse.

That was something Shiroe could state positively only now that he’d gained a “reason.”

It was something he was able to declare because he had Log Horizon.

“Oh…”

Shiroe had pushed Nureha away. As she looked at him, the fox ears that adorned her black hair moved as if perplexed.

“I’ve decided to believe all of the made-up story you told me. However, I can’t go with you.”

Frozen, Nureha gazed into Shiroe’s eyes as though she hadn’t given up completely. Her lips were trembling. As if clinging to him, still despaired: “Why?”

“Because it’s probably more in line with your wish to have me as an enemy than an ally.”

Staring into Nureha’s eyes of his own accord for the first time, Shiroe spoke each word clearly, as if verifying his own will. As he felt the words stab Nureha like swords, and the pain of them, Shiroe touched her cool cheek.

“I’ll be your enemy, when you look for a reason someday.”

Shiroe’s words became an invisible chain that linked the two of them.

Before long, that chain would lead Akiba and Minami to the Sky Labyrinth of Imbrium, and on to the Sea of Soma.

<Log Horizon, Volume 5: Sunday in Akiba—The End>