Game’s End Part 2

by Mamare Touno

  Shiroe had registered this possibility quite some time ago.

  “In other words, if Chefs cook in the mewsual way, without mewsing the menu, the flavors of the ingredients will shine through in the resulting dish.”

  Nyanta had said this to Shiroe on their journey home from Susukino.

  Then it had been demonstrated to be true.

  However, the phenomenon wasn’t limited to Chefs. Shiroe had persuaded the people around him of this fact at the Round Table Council.

  If someone with an appropriate creative skill used appropriate personal abilities to make something—without relying on the item creation menu—it was possible to produce things that didn’t exist in this other world.

  That had been the true meaning of Nyanta’s discovery.

  It had been two months since then. Shiroe had researched the things he envisioned, continuing to experiment. This had been an idea he’d come up with to use as an ace up his sleeve during the Round Table Council establishment uproar, but he’d accumulated further information through his subsequent research, and it had evolved.

  He had taken inspiration from the Spirit Theory Li Gan had spoken of, and now his research was about to bear fruit.

  Rundelhaus was a Person of the Earth.

  Not only that, but in three minutes’ time, without fail, he would die.

  People of the Earth couldn’t resurrect.

  That meant Rundelhaus would vanish.

  —In that case.

  The answer was obvious: “During those three minutes, make Rundelhaus an Adventurer.”

  Through experiments, he’d established that Scribes could create simple contracts and various types of documents. With a sufficient Scribe level and magical materials, they could even create applications for quests, promissory notes, and other items that had magical or binding effects.

  However, even in terms of special contracts like those, this one was of the highest rank.

  A contract that admitted a Person of the Earth to a guild and gave them the identity of “Adventurer” sounded like fraud, even to Shiroe. However, precisely because that was the case, in order to fulfill those requirements, he’d used the skills of a level-90 Scribe and an ink created through unstinting use of ultraprime magical materials he’d collected during his Elder Tales days.

  Shiroe held the contract right in front of Rundelhaus’s nose.

  “I’ve already signed it. Your signature is all that’s needed.”

  “—ven…tu…rer…”

  “If that’s what you want.”

  The young, mud-spattered Sorcerer gave a hoarse, nearly involuntary murmur. Shiroe spoke to him:

  “This contract carries risk. It will probably transform you somehow, turning you into a being completely unlike what you have been up till now. Adventurers are still newcomers to this world, and we don’t know what sort of trouble we may be pulled into in the future. We probably don’t possess as much glory as you think we do.”

  “What I want to become…”

  The “dead” flag was still blinking on his status, and his HP was draining away before their very eyes, but Rundelhaus didn’t even glance at it as he responded.

  “…is an Adventurer. If I can save people in need, I won’t trouble myself over trivialities. …What I want isn’t glory. It’s to be…an Adventurer.”

  With shaking hands, Rundelhaus grasped the pen that had been held out to him, but he fumbled and dropped it. The effect of Revenant Incense was nearly spent. The link between Rundelhaus’s yin and yang energy was fading.

  “Rudy… It’s okay.”

  Isuzu steadied his hand.

  “I’ll sign it with you.”

  Isuzu supported Rundelhaus as if she were hugging him from behind. Touya helped her. Minori and Serara continued to chant recovery spells. Everyone watched as Rundelhaus signed.

  As his friends’ encouragement warmed his trembling fingers, the magic ink took the shape of Rundelhaus’s name. The signature flared up, blazing into golden light. Shiroe’s trick was accepted by this other world, and became a new rule.

  “Die once, Rundelhaus… You’ll revive in the temple.”

  As Shiroe spoke, somewhere, he felt large gears begin to turn. The dispersing yin energy drifted up as particles, being sent to Akiba. In the midst of that fantastic scene, all the players except Shiroe stared with expressions of blank amazement.

  This was the magic creation that would earn Shiroe a new byname: “Scrivener of the East.”

  4

  Once again, a battle was being fought in the darkness.

  In the heart of Zantleaf’s central hills.

  As before, the battle was taking place in a steep-walled valley. The only things that were not like the previous occasion were the width of the valley that served as the stage and the scale of the clash. When she asked Misa Takayama why valleys were chosen as battlefields, the answer was “Battalions need a fairly large, open space to assemble, and although units could be organized in the tree-covered mountains, it wouldn’t be possible to set up headquarters.”

  When she thought about it that way, it made sense to Raynesia.

  Even if they were demihumans, goblins had the bare minimum of intelligence. It stood to reason that when conducting military operations, they would naturally obey certain established tactics.

  In addition, if the battle was staged in a mountain valley, there would naturally be several ridges that offered views down into that valley. This time, Misa Takayama and the rest of the observation squad had chosen one of these ridges. Unlike last time, only the bare minimum of furniture, such as the observation table, had been set out. This was partly due to the fact that they weren’t sure whether or not they would have to move, and partly because Raynesia had firmly refused. Misa Takayama seemed subtly relieved, and from her attitude, Raynesia guessed that it really had been done out of consideration for her the previous time.

  However, all these things were mere trifles.

  Raynesia’s interest was focused on the battle that was already in progress on the valley floor. The same was probably true of Misa Takayama and the others as well.

  The unit was accompanied by countless Dire Wolves. According to Misa Takayama’s explanation, they were goblin Tamers. The savage goblin tribes didn’t have complex societies the way humans did, but they did have classes and primitive division of roles.

  Most goblins were light infantry or soldiers with javelins, but she’d been told that some goblins had special roles. The best-known classes were Tamer and Shaman. Goblin Tamers sometimes bred and raised owlbears, hippogriffs, Dire Wolves, and the like.

  Even from her vantage point, the unit deployed in the valley below seemed to have several hundred Dire Wolves with it. It was a scene straight out of a nightmare, as though the dark earth was writhing with a will of its own.

  “Those seem to be a specially bred mutant strain,” Misa Takayama continued, calmly.

  “I fought them myself on a previous raid. They’re Dire Wolves that are regularly exposed to undead miasma as they grow, and they have poisonous fangs. If this many of them are being used as a concentrated force, one of the tribes that followed the Goblin King must have included Tamers. …How very interesting. I had no idea Elder Tales had such detailed background information.”

  “W-will they be all right…?”

  “It’s ridiculous even to worry.”

  Misa Takayama sounded completely disinterested, but Raynesia couldn’t be so optimistic. The unit deployed in the valley really did seem to be several hundred strong, and the Goblin General was somewhere at its center, probably near the foreign tents and the mobile fortress on enormous wheels.

  Even Raynesia wasn’t worried about that monster of a knight, but his subordinates were knights as well. If they died in this battle… Well, no, they wouldn’t die, but if they were grievously injured or in terrible pain, she would feel awful.

  However, quite apart from Raynesia’s concern, the hostilities commenced.

&n
bsp; “That square… How lovely.”

  “It’s called a quadrilateral formation. It’s a military formation.”

  Misa Takayama must have been free just then; she came up beside Raynesia.

  She continued, pointing at the nearly square ranks Krusty’s strike unit had formed.

  “It’s a comparatively popular formation for raids. Since raid units are organized in multiples of four, quadrilateral formations are easy to put together from a command perspective as well. …Because of the square’s four sides, you see. In general terms, quadrilaterals are defensive formations. The front side is made up of personnel that can mount close-range attacks, with a focus on the Warrior classes; while the long-range attack classes behind them conduct mainly magic attacks. Since it’s a closer formation, it’s a poor choice when the enemy has members that can use powerful range attacks, but against enemies that are like packs of wild beasts, it has the defensive strength of an iron wall.”

  “Then…”

  Raynesia’s guess was correct.

  The powerful front line easily repelled the Dire Wolves’ attacks, while a barrage of arrows and spells flew from the rear ranks. Thanks to the night-vision balm, Raynesia could see even in the dark, but the pillars of flame that began to go up all over the battlefield were bright enough to render it unnecessary.

  “They’re about to make their move.”

  Misa Takayama pointed directly at the battlefield.

  As if led by her fingertip, the entire square began to move. Even as its shape warped slightly, turning it into a trapezoid, the square territory advanced, steadily paring away the enemy’s forces.

  Misa had called it a defensive formation, but that assessment was completely misleading. It was the first large-scale battle Raynesia had ever seen, and since she’d never directly watched the castle knights fight a defensive battle, she had nothing to compare it to, but the scene in front of her was thoroughly unsuited to the word defense.

  It was, in a manner of speaking, a square hole.

  Krusty’s raid army looked like a jet-black hole in the huge goblin army, and anything that touched it, goblin or Dire Wolf, was promptly dealt with. With a fastidiousness that bordered on lunacy, it was making the enemy forces as if they had never been.

  “Now, watch carefully.”

  Just then, from the center of the square formation, four birds of flame soared up like an enormous bonfire. The gigantic birds, which scattered orange and deep crimson fire, were clearly summoned creatures. However, Raynesia had never heard of summoned creatures like these before. From what she knew of them, summoned creatures ranged from the size of a fist to the size of a puppy, and she’d never seen any creature with such ferocious grace.

  “They’re phoenixes. Players at or above level eighty-six can make contracts with them. They’re high-level spirits with flame attributes, sacred and elegant beasts that qualified Summoners who have cleared a significantly difficult quest are able to contract with. …What is it?”

  What was it? What else could it be?

  Those creatures were on fire.

  Wh-wha… What sort of beings do these Adventurers think they’re summoning?! How can that possibly not be against the rules?!

  Finally, and very nearly too late, Raynesia understood.

  Krusty’s attitude was most certainly not a bluff. He was simply being himself.

  No wonder Misa Takayama had said, It’s ridiculous even to worry.

  True, there was no telling what would happen on a battlefield. However, there were men in this world who would stand on these unpredictable battlefields for fun. Men of that breed ruled the battlefield with an astronomical amount of experience that others had no hope of matching.

  The people under his command were Adventurers who’d put in the same overwhelming training. Common sense regarding knights should never have been brought into it.

  Raynesia felt it from the bottom of her heart:

  The Adventurers were completely beyond her.

  With an explosive roar, the Goblin General’s huge, armed vehicle broke apart. A heavily armored bodyguard detail and a gigantic, stern goblin leapt from the shattered tank, but Krusty’s army only pressed forward.

  Raynesia’s ears caught a voice they shouldn’t have been able to hear:

  Now, then. Let’s rip them to pieces.

  The voice was a whisper, calm, yet accompanied by a joy like honey on the lips, and it definitely belonged to Krusty.

  Raynesia didn’t have the ability to telechat, and there was no way she could have heard what Krusty said at this distance. Even so, she had certainly heard it.

  Krusty’s huge, double-bladed ax came down, pointing out the enemy, and an attack unit sprang out of the quadrilateral formation like a jet-black spear. A group of warriors with twin swords began to slash through the hoard of Goblins as easily as if they’d been thin fabric.

  The Goblin General brandished an overdecorated spear and howled with rage, but Krusty stood as if to blot out the moon, and his display lasted only until Krusty’s shadow swallowed him up.

  “That ends the main course. …Let’s leave the rest for the General Staff Office’s nets.”

  Misa Takayama shut her report with a light thump. Her voice was calm, as if she was delivering perfectly obvious information.

  5

  The rendezvous happened before dawn.

  The sahuagins’ resistance had been stronger than anticipated, and it had taken time to get ashore from the Ocypete. As an experimental ship, the Ocypete had been given all sorts of different functions, but fundamentally, after all, it was a transport ship.

  It wasn’t a military assault and landing vessel.

  It was also true that they’d been unsure of their ability to bring monsters that moved effortlessly in the water under their control, and this had made it difficult for them to conduct any bold maneuvers.

  However, by the middle of the night, Naotsugu and Nyanta had summoned their griffins and ferried over a small number of Adventurers through the air, and these had begun to replenish the fighting power on the Choushi side. With Summoners on both banks, it was only a matter of time before they drove the sahuagins from a certain area.

  “Well, kiddo! I wasn’t expectin’ you to turn up here.”

  Marielle grinned broadly.

  There was no telling when he’d arrived, but as the sun set, Shiroe came walking out of the town, reassigned the limited number of personnel, and then began building a line of defense in the fields to the north of the village as well.

  Shiroe was the leader of Log Horizon.

  In other words, he was one of the eleven guild masters on the Round Table Council. That said, in comparison with that title, his name recognition was very low.

  Of course, the particulars and internal circumstances of the establishment of the Round Table Council weren’t at all secret. As a result, among well-informed Adventurers, Shiroe’s name carried weight. However, compared to Krusty and Isaac, who were leaders of major guilds, or to Marielle, who had a vast circle of acquaintances, his face wasn’t well-known.

  True, once you talked to him, you found he was an agreeable, compassionate young man, but at first he was just a biiiiit tough to approach… Or so Marielle thought, at any rate.

  He’s a good kid, sure, but…! That face! Those eyes! They’re scary!

  Coming to this conclusion on her own, Marielle nodded vigorously, but Henrietta would probably have told her, “After you get to them, Marielle, most Adventurers are good kids.”

  For those reasons, Shiroe’s appearance wasn’t widely known (and he got called “a good kid” by Marielle!), but the impact of his arrival certainly wasn’t a small one.

  His reputation for courage might have been inferior, but Shiroe was the expeditionary army’s counselor. Reinforcements directly from headquarters boosted morale naturally.

  Shiroe had appeared in town quite suddenly, and the Ocypete unit had appeared at nearly the same time. This gave the bone-tired defense unit
the impression that he’d come leading the Ocypete troops.

  Marielle used that effect to the max.

  She cheered on the defense unit at the top of her lungs, for one. The defense unit had been exhausted by the sahuagins’ mass tactics, but the news of the arrival of reinforcements and Marielle’s cheers restored their fighting spirit at a stroke. As spirits and summoned animals conjured from the Ocypete performed super-long-range support, every player, newbies included, worked hard enough for several people each and expelled the sahuagins.

  The corpses of sahuagins that had fallen at the water’s edge were taken by the waves with the tide, or else vanished after a set time had elapsed. In the midst of it all, the fierce battle continued far into the night.

  Late at night, after the Adventurers had somehow managed to end the battle with a victory:

  Completely worn out, the Adventurers who’d participated in the summer camp collapsed any way they pleased around the port between the Great Zantleaf River and the coastal beach.

  The newly arrived unit, which still had strength to spare, had taken over the defense of the town for them and guard duty as well. The only ones gathered in this open area were the members of the summer camp, who’d fought full-time through defensive battles with both the goblins and the sahuagins.

  Even as she thought that she should probably adopt an attitude that would set a better example, Marielle had also spread out her mantle and thrown herself onto it, facedown.

  Haaaaaah… Somehow or other, we did it…

  The Crescent Moon League had never participated in any large-scale conflicts or battles. Marielle had never taken command of such complicated battle lines in her life.

  They were total amateurs. If this defensive battle had succeeded, Marielle thought, it was all due to the height of the new Adventurers’ motivation and the support they’d received from Naotsugu and the other veteran players.

  “You okay, Miss Mari?”

  A voice spoke from above her, much closer than she’d expected.