by Mamare Touno
He’d never been a role model for anyone in that way before, and so their wish left him speechless, unable to respond properly.
As he watched Shiroe, Nyanta’s narrow eyes narrowed further in an excess of kindness. He spoke to him, calmly.
“Shiroechi. Mew mustn’t just stare like that. Mew’re the GM.”
GM.
Guild master.
The leader of a guild.
He was right, Shiroe realized. He was so used to his companions that they could practically read one another’s minds, and so even after he’d created a guild, he hadn’t been all that conscious of being a leader.
…Or of being a role model for someone.
Even though he’d come this far following role models of his own, he’d never imagined that he’d become someone like that.
Shiroe turned to look back at his two hungry companions, who’d poked their heads out over the edge of the stairs. Naotsugu gave a sly grin and said, “Well, duh,” flashing him a thumbs-up sign. Akatsuki nodded, her expression just a little softer than usual.
“All right. Log Horizon welcomes you, Touya and Minori. As new recruits, your first mission is to come eat curry rice with the top brass. …Are you ready?”
“Yes, sir!” “Mister!”
Two young voices chimed in, and now they were six.
In the world that had once been Elder Tales, a new guild was formed.
Its name was Log Horizon.
And so this small band of companions established itself in a ruin, pierced by an ancient tree, on the outskirts of Akiba.
AFTERWORD
Hello! It’s been about a month. This is Mamare Touno.
Thank you very much for picking up Log Horizon, Volume 2: The Knights of Camelot. When this book ran online, it was part of The Beginning of Another World, Parts 1 and 2, but that got split up and restructured, and now it’s the second volume. In this book, the curtain finally rises on the adventures of Shiroe and the other Log Horizon members. Look forward to their future activity!
…And with that introduction, here’s more about Sister Touno.
Thanks to all of you, Log Horizon made it into print, so I thought I’d take Sister Touno out to eat. To celebrate, you know.
That said, my frail little sister isn’t physically up to long excursions, so we stuck close to home.
In this case, we didn’t even have to think about it: We went to the monja place.
We live in Shitamachi, so monja (savory pancakes) are one of the standards.
Sister Touno didn’t seem to have grasped the situation all that well, and the expression on her face said, “?, ?” It was like she was so much of a monkey that she didn’t even understand the words my treat. Is my little sister dumb, or is it just that her big brother hasn’t done many big brotherly things? I could dig my own grave real easily here, so I’ll leave that aside.
As you’ve guessed, I haven’t actually come out to my family about the books being published yet. It’s not that I’m trying to keep it a secret or anything. It’s just that, when I came clean about it the month before last, I got called a liar and ignored, and I lost the opportunity to explain.
This going out for monja doubled as a ploy to create another opportunity to explain, but the second we sat down, Sister Touno started threatening me.
Oh, Sister Touno. Do you distrust your big brother so much? I told her to order anything she wanted, and I guess it was a really bad move. She said some pretty mean things: “What are you plotting, stupid brother?”
I talked her down somehow, and we ate monja together.
Spicy cod roe and cheese monja, with mochi topping.
It isn’t just Sister Touno: The whole Touno family tends to take a liking to something and only eat that one thing. The late Mother Touno would eat soumen noodles all summer long, and Touno himself went nuts over the Tohato company’s “All Apricot” cookies and bought them by the case.
For Sister Touno, that something is shibazuke (eggplant or cucumber pickled with red shiso leaves) and cheese fish cakes. As you can see, the Touno family’s eating habits are cheap, the Shitamachi way.
So the two of us ate our way through three spicy cod roe and cheese monja with mochi topping in a row. We had slightly flat soda, too.
Spicy cod roe and cheese monja with mochi topping is the most delicious monja in the world.
I tried to talk about the publishing thing several times, but every time I started to explain, Sister Touno would invade the monja border, so I didn’t have time. Scrambling the monja and trying to hog it is a violation of the Shitamachi code of conduct.
Even though she’s sickly, my little sister is excessively aggressive, and she really won’t listen when people talk. She’s as insolent as a Himalayan pika.
It wasn’t my fault that when Sister Touno was in elementary school, she thought the characters for Oita Prefecture were read as “Daibu Prefecture” and that she got the English words trumpet and trampoline mixed up. I tried to correct her and she just wouldn’t listen, all right?
“That was yummy and I’m full!” That satisfied smile of hers hasn’t changed all that much since elementary school, so it’s a sure bet the contents of her noggin haven’t changed, either. …Not that Touno—who said, “I’m stuffed! Mentaiko’s mentastic!”—is much different.
…And so I’m still not “out.”
All right, then: Touno family circumstances aside, Log Horizon is being brought to you at ferocious speed. In this volume, the twins Touya and Minori make their entrance, and Shiroe’s world gets even noisier. These two are very hard workers, and they could become the engine for Shiroe’s group.
The items listed on the character status screens at the beginning of each chapter in this volume were collected on Twitter in March 2011. I used items from IGM_masamune, RyosukeKadoh, ebius1, gontan_, hpsuke, kaze_syuki, makiwasabi, roki_a, sawame_ja, tepan00, blackusagi, kane_yon, and wataru_mg. Thank you very much!!
I can’t list all your names here, but I’m grateful to everyone who made a submission. It was an embarrassment of riches, from really cool items to items that made me snicker. This wealth of items gives me ideas about this world’s various knowledge and legends.
The good people of the editorial department came up with projects as well, including the Akiba map in this volume. For detailed, brand-new news, check out http://mamare.net. You’ll find all sorts of other non–Log Horizon Mamare Touno information there, too.
Finally, I’d like to thank Shoji Masuda, who produced this book as well; Kazuhiro Hara, who drew even more extravagant illustrations for this volume than for the first one; Tsubakiya Design, who handled the design work; little F_ta of the editorial department! And Oha, who even took care of touching up the text! Thank you very much! Now all that’s left is for you to savor this book. Bon appétit!
Mamare “I love monja” Touno
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
AUTHOR: MAMARE TOUNO
A STRANGE LIFE-FORM THAT INHABITS THE TOKYO BOKUTOU SHITAMACHI AREA. IT’S BEEN TOSSING HALF-BAKED TEXT INTO A CORNER OF THE INTERNET SINCE THE YEAR 2000 OR SO. IT’S A FULLY AUTOMATIC, TEXT-LOVING MACRO THAT EATS AND DISCHARGES TEXT. IT DEBUTED AT THE END OF 2010 WITH MAOYUU: MAOU YUUSHA (MAOYUU: DEMON KING AND HERO). LOG HORIZON IS A RESTRUCTURED VERSION OF A NOVEL THAT RAN ON THE WEBSITE SHOUSETSUKA NI NAROU (SO YOU WANT TO BE A NOVELIST).
WEBSITE: HTTP://WWW.MAMARE.NET
SUPERVISION: SHOJI MASUDA
AS A GAME DESIGNER, HE’S WORKED ON RINDA KYUUBU (RINDA CUBE) AND ORE NO SHIKABANE WO KOETE YUKE (STEP OVER MY DEAD BODY), AMONG OTHERS. ALSO ACTIVE AS A NOVELIST, HE’S RELEASED THE ONIGIRI NUEKO (ONI KILLER NUEKO) SERIES, THE HARUKA SERIES, JOHN & MARY: FUTARI HA SHOUKIN KASEGI (JOHN & MARY: BOUNTY HUNTERS), KIZUDARAKE NO BIINA (BEENA, COVERED IN WOUNDS), AND MORE. HIS LATEST EFFORT IS HIS FIRST CHILDREN’S BOOK, TOUMEI NO NEKO TO TOSHI UE NO IMOUTO (THE TRANSPARENT CAT AND THE OLDER LITTLE SISTER). HE HAS ALSO WRITTEN GEEM
U DEZAIN NOU MASUDA SHINJI NO HASSOU TO WAZA (GAME DESIGN BRAIN: SHINJI MASUDA’S IDEAS AND TECHNIQUES).
TWITTER ACCOUNT: SHOJIMASUDA
ILLUSTRATION: KAZUHIRO HARA
AN ILLUSTRATOR WHO LIVES IN ZUSHI. ORIGINALLY A HOME GAME DEVELOPER. IN ADDITION TO ILLUSTRATING BOOKS, HE’S ALSO ACTIVE IN MANGA AND DESIGN. LATELY, HE’S BEEN HAVING FUN FLYING A BIOKITE WHEN HE GOES ON WALKS.
WEBSITE: HTTP://WWW.NINEFIVE95.COM/IG/
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