A Sunday in Akiba

by Mamare Touno

Dinner parties, which were unheard of among the People of the Earth, were a type of feast that was similar to—and yet was not—a banquet. Several different types of dishes were placed in readiness here and there around the venue, and were then carried around. At this feast, there was no fixed seating order for guests. They would stand and eat, as at a ball.

  She’d contrived it so that the invited guests and as many different types of people from Akiba as possible could attend.

  As Akiba’s governing institution, the Round Table Council was certainly important, but anyone who wanted to be accepted as a friend of the Adventurers would have to connect with a variety of different people. If the Adventurers’ way was to refrain from separating aristocrats and commoners, then everyone should be treated as aristocrats.

  With that thought, Raynesia had requested the help of the Round Table Council and planned the dinner party as a large-scale ceremony.

  It was an expression of gratitude for the Adventurers’ role in the Zantleaf war, as well as a display of Raynesia’s good faith.

  The conflict at Zantleaf, which had occurred two months previously, had influenced the world in a variety of ongoing ways, but the cleanup had finally come to an end. Those were Raynesia’s feelings as she prepared for the Libra Festival.

  It was likely that Krusty intended to come up with some pretext or other to foist another tremendously heavy responsibility off onto her, but this time, she absolutely refused to be sweet-talked into it. Raynesia turned away from him, loading the gesture with determination.

  Her peaceful days (and not only that, but a gourmet lifestyle in Akiba) were finally about to arrive. No matter what, she had to avoid having work forced onto her or being dragged into something tiresome.

  However, contrary to expectations, the impossible demand Krusty was bound to inflict on her (making it look like a simple task at first glance) never arrived. Krusty only quietly drank his tea.

  Time in the room flowed slowly.

  What is this menace thinking…?

  Even as she worried, time passed, little by little.

  Air that seemed to have had a yawn dissolved into it arrived, bringing drowsiness. The noise of festival preparations, like the murmur of distant waves, and the monotonous sound of the clock on the wall were like a fiendish, sleep-inducing spell.

  Raynesia had planned to spend the whole day in idleness, so this situation wasn’t a problem for her. The sofa was soft, and she wouldn’t have minded spending half a day on it this way. All of that was perfect. The only issue was Krusty.

  Even if Raynesia was an aristocrat brimming over with adventurous spirit, she couldn’t sit daydreaming beside a man forever.

  When she glanced at him—stealthily, so that he wouldn’t notice—Krusty had set his cup down on the coffee table and seemed to be gazing out the window at the town, which looked as if it might melt into the autumn light.

  He had a beautiful profile. The murderous intent he’d shown when he fought the Goblins had made him seem like a man-eating fiend, but not a trace of it was visible in him now.

  Come to think of it, this person is a monster, so he knows all about everything anyway.

  Raynesia’s mood grew lighter, as if an evil spirit had left her.

  —But just a tiny bit.

  A bare two palms’ worth.

  Raynesia shifted back toward the center of the sofa.

  The distance between them had closed slightly, although it was still wide enough that two Raynesias could have sat between them, but…

  Krusty shrugged. Without saying a word, he continued to sit on the sofa, peacefully enjoying his tea.

  4

  “We’re all done loading!”

  “Yeah, here too.”

  Cheerful voices echoed back and forth, letting them know that the caravan was ready to move out.

  “Rudy. We’re going.”

  “Understood, Miss Isuzu.”

  As he responded to Isuzu’s voice, Rundelhaus—a handsome young man with blond hair, blue eyes, and sweet, well-favored features—put a map and small articles into his rucksack.

  Isuzu herself had already finished organizing her belongings. All she needed to do to be completely ready was stand up and slap the dust off her rump a couple of times.

  In this other world, outdoor activities meant roughing it in the literal sense of the word. The idea of just running down to the convenience store didn’t exist. Even the town of Akiba was filled with ruins and littered with rubble; in places where the ancient trees grew thickly, you’d have thought there was a forest right in the middle of town. If you took one step outside the town, unspoiled nature jostled or merged with the civilization humans had created.

  Much of Adventurer fashion was showy or magnificent, but it lasted only because of the Adventurers’ superhuman strength and the special function that automatically got rid of dirt.

  Isuzu thought that if you had the sensibilities of a girl who worked very hard on her nail art (that is, a fastidious loathing of dirt), it would probably be tough.

  Fortunately, Isuzu wasn’t that fussy about cleanliness, and jobs that involved a little dirt didn’t bother her at all.

  Carrying instruments around was heavy work, and playing them for a long time required physical strength. Although they weren’t Isuzu’s specialty, wind instruments required lung capacity, and the wood bass that was Isuzu’s specialty weighed over ten kilograms.

  Fundamentally, the brass band club was more an athletics club than a cultural club.

  Besides, I’m a country girl anyway, she murmured silently, shrugging her shoulders.

  She was from a town where the school was surrounded by rice paddies, and frogs croaked away in them in spring.

  Isuzu was a Bard with a freckled profile and bright eyes. She wore thin leather armor, and her abundant hair was bound into a braid. She shouldered a big, two-handed spear that didn’t match her class; that was just her style.

  It had already been three months since she’d been released from Hamelin, a guild that had exploited new players. By now, she’d grown completely used to living as an Adventurer, and her days passed peacefully.

  For that reason, taking a break in the forest like this didn’t strike her as stressful at all. She could sit directly on stumps, and she didn’t feel she was the sort of girl who’d grimace because her butt had gotten dirty.

  Nevertheless, Isuzu’s companion treated Isuzu—quite more than enough—as a girl.

  “Miss Isuzu? Here.”

  Lending a hand to Isuzu—who’d been about to put her foot into the stirrup—Rundelhaus boosted her up onto the horse’s back. For his part, he leapt up to sit astride his own mount with a fresh attitude completely devoid of sarcasm.

  “What’s wrong, Miss Isuzu?”

  The young man, Rundelhaus Code, turned back to Isuzu with a puzzled expression.

  A People of the Earth Adventurer. It sounded contradictory, but it was exactly what made him unique and incredibly rare in this world. He was practically the only one of his kind.

  His blond hair and blue eyes made him look like a prince from a girls’ manga, and his handsome features were elegant. His eyes still held traces of rich-kid naïveté, but even so, there was dignity and a strong will in them as well.

  That said, because he was too elegant, Isuzu thought of him as a golden retriever puppy. In other words, the young man’s effervescent charm won out over his elegance in her mind.

  “Are you sure, Adventurers? Really sure?”

  “Yes, of course,” Isuzu answered.

  The question had come from a Person of the Earth who was leading the caravan. They were about to start for the town of Akiba. If they left now, they’d reach it before evening.

  Isuzu and Rundelhaus had come out for early-morning combat training and hunting. When they’d spotted the caravan, they’d decided to act as its escorts until it reached Akiba.

  Right now, Isuzu and Rundelhaus were at Eight Canals High Coast. On Earth, it was the area around t
he mouth of the Tama River known as Keihin Port.

  The area was about two and a half hours from Akiba on one of the Adventurers’ horses, and it was one of Isuzu and Rundelhaus’s favorite spots. Of course, that meant slightly different things to them.

  When it came to combat training, Rundelhaus never compromised, and in addition to the hunting he did with his guild mates, he never neglected his own voluntary training. He could meditate and repeat new spells in any modest open space, but when working to improve magic control and hit accuracy, it was best to have an appropriate opponent… In other words, a monster.

  This area, which had monsters that could be subdued by one person and was also in the vicinity of Akiba, was an ideal hunting ground. To Rundelhaus, Eight Canals High Coast was a convenient place for independent training.

  Meanwhile, it was Isuzu’s favorite walking course.

  There were many places where she and her brave, loyal hound Rundelhaus could go for walks outdoors, but Eight Canals High Coast lay along a river; the scenery was beautiful, and if you went downstream, you could look out over the ocean as well. It was a rather luxurious place.

  Slightly over two hours one way was a bit far for a walk, but during this period, when combat training had been suspended during the commotion over the festival, it was the perfect way to kill time.

  —Of course, Isuzu hadn’t forgotten that the goal was to hone her own and Rundelhaus’s combat abilities. In this dangerous new frontier, leveling up was the quickest way to protect yourself.

  Acquiring new techniques wasn’t the only effect leveling up had. It also raised players’ hit points and all types of resistance.

  The amount of damage you took when attacked by a monster of a certain level depended on how powerful the monster’s attacks were, but the relationship between your level and the monster’s also exerted an important influence. If your level was higher than the monster’s, that alone was generally enough to reduce the damage. In this world, undergoing combat training and raising your level moved you closer to safety, little by little, all by itself.

  Isuzu had nearly lost Rundelhaus once.

  She had no intention of repeating the experience.

  For that reason, the two of them had come out here early that morning, but after noon, several hours after they’d begun training (or their “walk”), they’d run across this caravan. There were five freight wagons in total, with a group of about twenty People of the Earth. They said the caravan had departed from Izu and was bound for Akiba. They’d heard rumors about the Libra Festival and were on their way to sell their specialty products, and to purchase anything noteworthy they happened to see.

  Isuzu talked it over with Rundelhaus.

  By and large, the types of monsters that appeared in field zones were determined by the region. The monsters that prowled through deep forests and mountain ranges were stronger than the ones in the surrounding areas, but aside from that, in general, the closer you got to human settlements, the fewer powerful monsters there were. This area, which was close to Akiba, a player town, was relatively safe.

  However, that was only as far as Adventurers were concerned.

  Isuzu knew that for People of the Earth, journeys were always a series of dangerous situations. Over the past month, little by little, Rundelhaus had told her about the People of the Earth. About how powerlessly they lived in this world filled with monsters.

  After talking it over, the two of them had decided to escort the caravan to Akiba. Of course, even without their escort, the caravan was almost certain to reach Akiba. Without exception, traveling merchants were cautious types.

  However, even if they stayed with the traders, it would be for only half a day or so; in the end, it would simply mean going home slowly. When it came to combat training, even with guarding the caravan, all they had to do was wipe out the monsters as they saw them. With this in mind, Isuzu and Rundelhaus offered to act as escorts.

  The People of the Earth had hesitated at first, but when they told them the only reward they needed was a meal, they agreed.

  I knew they’d be hesitant around us…

  It made Isuzu a little sad, but she resigned herself to it, thinking there was no help for it.

  To People of the Earth, even if the Adventurers were close, they were distant beings. Akiba’s People of the Earth were used to Adventurers, but Rundelhaus had warned her, again and again, that they would be treated as completely different creatures farther out in the country.

  The caravan traveled down a hill road that sketched a gentle slope under the fall sun. But the horse-drawn wagons were surprisingly noisy; the wooden bodies didn’t have much in the way of cushions or absorbers, and they creaked loudly as they picked up every bump and dip in the road.

  Just to hear them, you would have thought they were about to fall to pieces, but they must have been built quite sturdily. All the key places on the wagons had been reinforced with iron bands, and they advanced slowly, loaded to the limit with cargo.

  “Say, Master Merchant. What is it you’re carrying here?”

  Rundelhaus directed a calm question at the slow procession. The caravan leader was sitting on the driver’s box and had been talking to a young merchant back in the bed of the wagon, but he raised his head at the sound of Rundelhaus’s voice.

  “Well, let’s see, Adventurer. Most of our trade is in fruit, so there’s bitter oranges and kumquats and olives. We’ve also got spices and liquor in the load. When we start back, I’d like to be able to buy up clothes or dishes or some such to take with us.”

  “Something does smell wonderful!”

  On hearing his answer, Isuzu nodded several times.

  A sweet, invigorating fragrance hung in the air around the wagons. In this season, naturally, there was very little raw, fresh fruit, and the goods in the barrels had probably been preserved in sugar. They gave off a brilliant perfume.

  As a rule, Adventurers were wealthy. In addition, compared to People of the Earth, they were known for paying generously for things besides the items needed for survival, which made them good customers.

  “Yes, these are our special syrup preserves. We hope the people of Akiba will buy up the lot.”

  Rundelhaus nodded in response to the merchant’s affable smile.

  “Still, we’ve certainly been seeing a lot of merchants over the past few days.”

  “Well, sure. It’s the autumn festival.”

  After giving the verbal jab to Rundelhaus, Isuzu pondered something. Rundelhaus was an exceptionally ambitious young man. With magic combat in particular, he trained hard, as if he were extraordinarily determined or wanted to carry out some sort of duty. That was why they’d come out this far today to train, but if he always did that, Rundelhaus would break. …This was something Isuzu worried about often. As the guardian of this fuzzy-headed, willful, single-minded young guy, it was Isuzu’s job to keep him from getting out of control.

  Rudy should relax and play a bit.

  Once she’d made that decision, things moved quickly in her mind.

  Isuzu had a list of places she secretly wanted to go. Festivals meant music, and music meant festivals. There were lots of events she wanted to see, and lots of things she wanted to eat. She’d determined that they would participate in the night’s public bonfire performance if she had to tie a rope around Rundelhaus’s neck. She’d heard a rumor that Bards would be welcome to join in.

  “There are sea routes, too, then.”

  “Yes indeed. Lately, there’s… You know. The Nine-Tails…”

  “…Right.”

  “They say that’s been sorted out, and that ship voyages are more stable. They say the merchants from the West are coming in by boat. I hear there’s some new thing called a spirit ship, and it’s real fast. Still, it’s nothing humble, ordinary traders like us are ever likely to see.”

  Isuzu was thinking about her plans for that evening, so she didn’t notice that Rundelhaus looked as if he was suppressing pain. However, it would h
ave been mean to blame her for it. With the fastidious stoicism unique to adolescence, Rundelhaus wiped the expression from his face in an instant, so that even the merchant he was talking to suspected nothing.

  The distinctive landscape of southern Akiba—which was no more than a pile of rubble, as though it had been mowed down by an enormous explosion—passed by, and before long, the green of the ancient trees came into view.

  It would probably be several more hours before they reached the town of Akiba, but from this spot, the caravan that was heading for the town and the individual traders who’d loaded their cargo onto the backs of ponies began to see it. It probably wasn’t an illusion that everyone’s steps seemed to grow lighter and quicker.

  In the town of Akiba, the fall festival was just about to begin.

  Even as they kept up their careful watch, the two caravan escorts drew nearer to the town they called home.

  5

  “My liege. I have brought your clothes.”

  Dexterously pushing the door open with her back, Akatsuki entered.

  As usual, I don’t understand Akatsuki’s idea of a master-servant relationship.

  Even as he thought this, Shiroe crossed to the table that had been set up at one end of the room. His room was vast: about twenty tatami mats’ worth of floor area. Though the building—Log Horizon headquarters—had been pointlessly spacious to begin with. They’d moved the room dividers several times, and as a result, Shiroe had come into possession of nearly a third of the second floor’s east side.

  In this other world, the amount of information that would have fit on a handheld device—let alone a personal computer—turned into enough documents to bury several shelves and tables. It wasn’t efficient, either to search or to organize, but if he didn’t do it, he wouldn’t even be able to direct traffic for the situation right in front of his nose.

  “Your face is pale.”

  As usual, when Akatsuki peeked up at him from below, Shiroe started in spite of himself. This petite, beautiful girl wasn’t aware that she was a beautiful girl. Because she gazed at him steadily, without looking away, Shiroe always had a close-up view of her large, black eyes, like polished obsidian; and her lips, which shone with a jellylike luster. It made him feel nervous and scattered.