Log Horizon

A tree stump a few meters tall was there--just as he had guessed. He went around that stump and made a turn at the two-story building. It was right where he remembered it.

Green moss had spread throughout the land. The asphalt, once ubiquitous, appeared infrequently here and there. Shiroe dashed through the ruins. The buildings stood in close succession, coiled and sometimes pierced by giant, ancient trees.

He was running past scenery that he hadn’t seen before, yet it still felt somewhat familiar to him.

There were silhouettes of people curled up in the streets.

These were likely Adventurers in the same situation as Shiroe. Their moans and screams made Shiroe forcibly suppress the fear that gradually rose up in his throat.

But he was barely putting up a show.

"What"s happening?"

"I-I"m...strange, what"s this?!"

"S-Someone get out here! Hey, game master! Are you listening?!"

Their screams sounded like dying animals.

Those excessively miserable screams brought back a tiny amount of composure in Shiroe. To not scream like that was the sole thought keeping him going.

(I can move my body as I like...it"s uncomfortable because the size of my limbs seems to be slightly different...thankfully, not by much.)

What spread before his eyes was the city of Akiba.

Many abandoned buildings were intertwined with ivy, reaching out vigorously from the asphalt here and there. The vines blended with the ancient, spirit-blessed trees. Nostalgia washed over him. This was the hometown of many players, the largest city of the j.a.panese server of Elder Tales.

"Akiba? Ridiculous! Have I gone nuts?! Someone, someone, answer me!"

A man cowering nearby shouted. Everyone was dressed as a citizen of a Middle-Ages fantasy world, wearing full-length clothing or even armor.

That was normal.

Elder Tales was the world"s largest cla.s.s of ma.s.sive online games with a theme based on a world of swords and magic.

But then, it was "just a game".

The wind brushing onto Shiroe"s cheeks was cold, moist and refreshing, like he was in the middle of a thick forest.

The air was different from the dry and somewhat p.r.i.c.kly air in Tokyo where Shiroe lived. The wind, twisted with the smell of greenery, told him that this place wasn"t the world he was familiar with.

Shiroe shook his head and thought back.

He was playing Elder Tales.

He remembered facing his desk at home and enjoying the game displayed on his LCD monitor.

Elder Tales was actually a long-running t.i.tle, boasting a 20-year history. Of course, its contents and game engine were replaced with the latest version by frequent software updates, but its abundance of data and deep game traditions acc.u.mulated from its long operation were what won the popularity of its users.

Today should have been the day to commemorate the release of the 12th expansion pack of Elder Tales. The data he had downloaded beforehand would be lifted of its restricted status and would bring about new items, new zones, new monsters and battles; and, above all else, raise the level cap of the world of Elder Tales.

Today was also the very day the expansion pack was brought live, so there should be a great number of players connected to the game world. Shiroe didn"t have a sound way of investigating that, but the fact that many of his friends were connected was confirmed from his Friend List.

Shiroe was a veteran player in Elder Tales.

He started this game when he was in middle school, and had been playing it for 8 years.

There were over 100,000 players in j.a.pan alone. The number of fans worldwide exceeded 20,000,000. The ma.s.sive online game had mesmerized Shiroe for a long time.

He had, of course, been looking forward to this expansion pack; however, he felt awkward about frolicking about it like a newbie, so he decided to pa.s.s time as usual. He"d been practicing hunting at a beginner area, tutoring a pair of twins with some general advice and explaining the usage of items.

But there his memory was abruptly cut.

Shiroe remembered seeing some sort of demo. Words of shining flames in a black scene. The sky was filled with sticky darkness like asphalt scrolling quickly and a white moon that cut out that blackness.

However, that was it.

And now, Shiroe was running in Akiba as his own pair of legs that had turned real kicked off the ground.

A rhythmic sound like that of a xylophone being played rang in his ears.

This familiar chime was an alert notifying him of an incoming telepathic call.

Shiroe concentrated on his forehead in a way like he was squinting his eyes and selected a menu that appeared in his mind. After being sent flying to this game world and letting go of the panic he felt at first, Shiroe had quickly picked up these controls.

"You here yet, Shiro?"

"I"m almost there!"

Shiroe listened to the voice of his dear old friend as he made another right turn at an abandoned building on the verge of collapse.

The clear sound of him cutting through the top of the trees and a humid smell were carried by the gentle breeze. And then there was the dazzling light.

This brightness was something one couldn"t experience unless one witnessed it in early summer. Under the cool winds, instead of bringing heat, the sun rays simply burst with white radiance. A pure, overwhelming intensity of light.

The city was illuminated by the light of early summer. The ancient giant trees and buildings cast deep black shadows on the main streets covered in black soil and asphalt. The contrast was beautiful.

The scene that was spreading out before Shiroe"s eyes was something he had seen countless, countless times: the hometown of the game world, the city of Akiba.

However, that scene had an overwhelming sense of realism that was impossible for a game and it was enveloping Shiroe completely.

Shiroe was sprinting in this scenery with his very own legs.

Every step he took, he felt the slipperiness of wet moss crushed by his sole. He felt his heart strongly pumping his blood to every nook and cranny of his body, which was heating up from the exercise.

This was something he couldn"t doubt; this was reality.

The city was, indeed as Shiroe remembered it, the city of Akiba.

The crumbling ruins, the repeatedly extending Barrack bars, and the old trees spreading their roots on the roads were all swallowed by a green forest even as they coexisted. This was the game setting of the holy ground of the ancients. This was Akiba.

Within the League of Freedom Towns Eastal, east of Arching Archipelago Yamato, Akiba was the hometown of the players and the core city of the j.a.panese server in Elder Tales.

He ran through the center of the street and made a turn at a corner of a three-story inn-and-bar.

The crumbling ruins were buildings made of concrete: Suftek, Yashikayama Electronics, Kulta Tower, etc. Various buildings and famous places gave the impression of the real world"s Akihabara, and they were reconstructed as ruins of an older era in Elder Tales.

The legacies of the old era were sleeping here and there in this world. They could be giant underground ruins or towers that pierced the skies. This city of Akiba was a legacy itself.

As if clinging on, buildings made of logs were extending the giant concrete structures that were on the verge of becoming rubble, and all of that was embraced within the bosom of the ancient trees. The scenery was miraculous.

After Shiroe arrived, Naotsugu, who was sitting on concrete debris, stood up and received him.

The lights shone in from holes without window frames in the wall, illuminating the two of them better than any game engine could have managed.

Naotsugu looked pale, but he still laughed heartily and slapped his sheath.

He was a bit more than 1.8m tall, wearing dull but remarkably strong steel armor over his st.u.r.dy body. Naotsugu had a shield on his back and looked like an ancient heroic warrior in his get-up.

"Hi, Shiro!"

"Naotsugu, eh... good morning."

Shiroe didn"t know how to react when he heard Naotsugu"s greeting, and fell back on this plain cold greeting.

Elder Tales had a standard voice chat system; players were able to communicate while playing the game by using speakers and a microphone, like chatting on the phone. Some players didn"t like to use voice chat and insisted on text messages, but Shiroe and Naotsugu were not like that.

That was why Shiroe remembered and was very familiar with Naotsugu"s voice.

Naotsugu Hasegawa.

If anyone asked Shiroe who was the most reliable person in the game, he would be among the first few choices that came to mind.

Online gaming referred to playing a game through the Internet. Elder Tales was a "Ma.s.sively Multiplayer Online" or "Ma.s.sively Multiuser Online" game. Several hundreds or thousands of players would be connected to the same game s.p.a.ce to play this game. In other words, this type of game allowed players to know many other players, working or competing with each other.

Shiroe had played Elder Tales for many years, so he knew quite a lot of people in the game. But the people you knew in the game remained in the game. Different people might have different playing styles and opinions, but most people would not reveal their real ident.i.ty in the game world.

With the increase in online crimes after the year 2000, protecting your personal data was common sense for the online community.

But that didn"t mean you couldn"t make real friends.

Naotsugu knew Shiroe"s real name... meaning Shiroe gave him his contact details and was one of the few players that had met with him offline as well.

Shiroe let out a sigh of relief when he heard Naotsugu"s voice.

They might have met in person before, but they had spent much more time conversing through the game screen. Naotsugu spent countless nights with Shiroe in the Debauchery Tea Party, visiting countless border zones, experiencing countless battles together. He was one of the players in Elder Tales whom Shiroe was great friends with.

They had chatted about so many things under the skies.

They even discussed their boring feelings. Naotsugu was completely unlike a friend he only met in a game.

For Shiroe, this cheerful and reliable voice was the symbol of Naotsugu.

"What"s this situation? Did Elder Tales evolve to this level while I wasn"t playing? To be honest, this is too real for me -- this isn"t possible with just improving the level of particle effects and rendering machines right? Is this a joke?"

Naotsugu pouted as he asked Shiroe. His cheerful and chatty voice sounded a bit depressed.

"This is nerve wrecking."

Shiroe vaguely nodded and raised the magic staff in his hand.

(Come on, this is a magic staff, magic staff.)

This was a commonly seen item in fantasy games and was just up to Shiroe"s shoulder in height. It was made by grinding and bending a long and slender tree branch and reinforcing it with metal... just like a magic staff used by mages.

The only place you could find this was in a role-playing store.

He probably noticed Shiroe"s silent reproach.

Naotsugu bent his head to check himself out. He was wearing steel armor that seemed to weigh dozens of kilograms, with a shield on his back and a sword with an elegant hilt on his waist. Naotsugu looked like a warrior in a fantasy setting.

"Eh, I look like a role player myself."

"That"s right."

Even though they were not sounds of joy, the two of them looked at each other and laughed.

"Now that you mention you... look the same."

"You too."

The two of them observed each other"s appearance.

Shiroe and Naotsugu were basically game characters in Elder Tales. The characters in the game were originally constructed using 3D models, a far cry from the real world. But the two of them existed for real in this world, in which everything was as detailed as reality.

But if you looked closely, this was not turning the game into reality. As a game, the characters of Elder Tales were designed for both males and females.

Since it was a monthly subscription game, there were very few players who intentionally chose ugly appearances. To meet the demand of the players, the market would use beautiful 3D models.

But Naotsugu was not just turning his stylish character in Elder Tales into reality. Shiroe had seen him in real life several times, and he looked exactly like Shiroe remembered.

"Naotsugu, your face looks very similar to your real face, doesn"t it?"

With the scar that ran through the brow of his game character gone, Naotsugu"s face revealed his own bright eyes with slightly drooping corners. His adult face had a boyish grin on his lips.

"You too, Shiro, a scholarly man with gla.s.ses and wicked beady eyes."

There were friends who described Shiroe this way, and his features seemed to be reflected on this body. As Shiroe thought about this, he gave the standard answer he used countless times: "Can you just ignore that?"

"What is the current situation? Tell me if you know anything, "Black Heart Gla.s.ses"."

"I personally want to tell you, but I don"t know anything."

Shiroe and Naotsugu kicked away the shattered debris and sat down. Shiroe didn"t have any information to explain the current situation.

Compared to the suburban area Shiroe woke up in, this was closer to the center of Akiba. If you listened carefully, you could hear the buzz of the city from here.

"Firstly, this is not a dream."

"Yeah."

Shiroe nodded and agreed to Naotsugu"s inquiry.

When he regained conscious, he was in a familiar place... that didn"t exist in the real world, which seemed like the game he was playing. Elder Tales was a fantasy game with the world of sword and sorcery as its backdrop. Players could create their characters, Adventurers, and travel through the world from their characters" view.

The body that Shiroe was controlling like his own was a character he controlled in the game, "Shiroe". But the appearance of this character seemed to reflect the real face of Shiroe.

"Have you seen the status screen?"

"I have."

Since Elder Tales was a game, the strength, stamina and all sorts of abilities were represented in the form of numbers. All sorts of commands in the game were input through the menu.

There were no such game-related screens anywhere you looked in this world. If you focused on your forehead region, the world would present a translucent status screen displaying all sorts of values and graphs. By controlling the cursor with your mind, you could perform all sorts of action. Both of them realized this about half an hour after waking up.

They also discovered the telepathy function. This was a function to contact your friends that were online in the game. In the Elder Tales world, this function was similar to a cell phone, allowing players to contact their friends from far away.

However, they could only contact people registered on their friend list.

Focusing on his forehead and browsing his friend list desperately with rusty controls, Shiroe had been shocked and he shouted when he discovered that Naotsugu was online.

Naotsugu was surprised when Shiroe contacted him through telepathy, but he quickly agreed to meet up at the ruins nearby.

"..."

"..."

The silence hung between them as both of them thought about what to say. But the answer was obvious, Shiroe had a better grasp of the situation than Naotsugu. From what Shiroe knew, Naotsugu hadn"t logged into Elder Tales in the past two years.

Shiroe told Naotsugu everything he knew.

Everything wasn"t much.

If it were about things that happened during the two years when Naotsugu wasn"t around, they could have talked all day. But Shiroe had no clue regarding the reason and background as to why they were involved in this perplexing event.

What he could confirm was that he installed the expansion pack "Novasphere Pioneers" and was playing with beginners just outside of the city when the incident happened. The place looked the same as the starting point of Elder Tales, Akiba, and they seemed to be in the game world. They had the same bodies as their characters and retained all the items and equipment they had in the game.

(Now that I think about it, how are the twins doing? I need to check on them later.)

But Shiroe didn"t know why this was happening.

As Shiroe narrated, Naotsugu listened carefully. When unfamiliar terms popped up he would ask about them, but he didn"t interject with his own opinions.

Shiroe didn"t like noise. He was fine with lively and festive atmospheres, but he disliked chaotic hustle and bustle. Naotsugu was cheerful and mischievous, but he was smart enough to listen to others.

Their characters differed but they hit it off well, maybe they both had the generosity to compromise with each other.

"I see, eh, alternate world... an alternate world has sucked us in, fantasy has become reality..."

"So Naotsugu, why are you here? Making a comeback?"

Naotsugu replied:

"Yeah, I heard about the new expansion pack, and things at work were calming down so I logged in to take a look..."

... come back.

(So Naotsugu was coming back. So Naotsugu was planning on coming back...)

He recalled that Naotsugu was 2 years his senior.

Shiroe met Naotsugu 4 years ago. Shiroe was already a veteran player in Elder Tales then. It was normal for a middle school student to play with computers in that era, but Shiroe was one of the few homely types. Put simply, even if he went out, his heart was still at home... he was a kid who was lonely even in a crowd.

Even after moving on to high school and college, he maintained this form of entertainment, touring the virtual world every day.

Elder Tales already had a special place among online games back then. If you wanted to play a challenging game with incredible content, it had to be Elder Tales; this was the view of the game amongst the players.

For instance, Elder Tales had a grand vision, the "Half-Gaia project". It might sound ridiculous, but the goal of the project was to recreate Earth at half its scale.

The starting city for j.a.panese server was Akiba, corresponding to Tokyo in the j.a.pan archipelago. North American servers had the "Big Apple" and "South Angel" as starting cities. j.a.panese and American servers were just convenient names to refer to. The online world was made up of many different servers connected to each other, so it was theoretically possible to head for other continents or even the end of the world. Hence, one of the selling points of Elder Tales was the ability of players to travel to other servers, something normal MMOs could not emulate.

The Half-Gaia project was a long term goal; the current game was not a perfect rendition of the real world.

In Elder Tales, the world was divided into many zones, each with its own territory and boundaries.

The vast sea of trees in Mount Fuji was a zone where ferocious monsters lurked, the dungeon Shinshuku Metro Complex was a stage for adventure, and the city of Akiba was a non-combat zone.

Going deeper, a room in a hotel was also a small zone. Some zones could be traded. If you acc.u.mulated enough in-game coins, you could be a land- or home-owner.

All zones were connected in their own ways. Open plains, for example, didn"t have boundary demarcations, so players weren"t able to tell which zone they were actually in. When they moved across zones, they wouldn"t even notice.

Some zones had obvious demarcations, like some buildings and rooms, which were individual zones connected elsewhere through a door.

From what Shiroe knew, the j.a.panese server managed tens of thousands of zones.

With such a scale, the developing company had to outsource to other major gaming companies, and knowledgeable veteran players like Shiroe were convenient reliable existences.

Shiroe had been invited by many guilds during his long tenure in the game, and had joined a guild temporarily, thinking of it as a trial.

Guilds were the most common way for players to form a group in Elder Tales.

After entering a guild, players could access the guild account in the bank and use the guild warehouse to manage their equipment easily as well as other convenient services. The guild members kept in touch with each other so it was easy to form raid parties.

So most players in Elder Tales joined a guild since it was convenient and had many benefits.

Since Shiroe liked to research the game contents and even got news from foreign servers, his knowledge was better than that of other veteran players who had played as long as he had. From this perspective, Shiroe was someone who could contribute greatly to whichever guild he chose to join.

No player could grasp the details of all the zones perfectly; Shiroe was also not a genius of that level. But things like main routes, the connections between zones, or the transport devices known as Fairy Rings could shorten your transportation time greatly. What you could buy at which zone or where you could hunt for a specific monster, this knowledge needed to be acc.u.mulated slowly over time.

Countless zones, endless varieties of items and monsters, missions known as quests, all kinds of ancient lore and knowledge... and anything else the developers could think of. The culmination of all these was Elder Tales.

But Shiroe could not get used to relationships that included elements of convenience and benefit. He had mellowed out now, but the Shiroe back then was much more stubborn and naive... and an embarra.s.sing neat freak.

Even if Shiroe didn"t make many requests of others, he didn"t know how to decline others.

He didn"t reject them, but his feelings didn"t accept them either.

There were all sorts of people in the game world. As long as there were people, there would be both pure and impure relationships. For the middle-school Shiroe, this might have been too shocking.

Shiroe noticed that he was being used like a walking encyclopedia. Along with his high-level character, he was dragged around like an all-purpose tool to fight for the convenience of others.

Shiroe couldn"t adjust to this type of relationship or reject it tactfully, so he chose to leave the guild and mingle with others in temporary raid parties by himself.

Before Shiroe realized it, he had become a famous solo player with both deep knowledge and a high-level character. As his fame grew, he fell deeper into solitude.

Naotsugu met him when Shiroe was starting to get stronger and travel alone, having given up on guilds. Shiroe was starting to grow numb to the feeling of solitude.

Shiroe and Naotsugu met in the Debauchery Tea Party.

The Debauchery Tea Party was not a guild. It was just the Debauchery Tea Party. There was no other way to describe it. It was just a group of players who "just" happened to congregate there.

Even though they "just" happened to be there, but they were "always" there and "ready" to go.

... that was the place Shiroe belonged to.

The guilds they joined were different.

Their characters were not the same.

They had nothing in common.

They just gathered in the ruined building. Sometimes in the plains, other times on the hills where you could see the stars.

This group went on adventures.

Elder Tales was a sword- and sorcery-style fantasy world, set thousands of years into the future. This was the setting the players bought into.

According to the legend of Elder Tales, there had been a ma.s.sive war on earth, shattering the old world, which was miraculously reconstructed by the G.o.ds into this one.

This was a common mythical setting seen in fantasy games.

Common mythical monsters like orcs, goblins, trolls, giants, chimeras, and hydras roamed the lands.

Most players found joy in battling. Gaining EXP and leveling up after defeating monsters, looting powerful and rare treasures; this was the common way to play Elder Tales.

But this was just grinding and farming, not real adventuring. Fighting repeatedly and adventuring were different things, Shiroe discovered that for the first time in the Debauchery Tea Party. And he could always see "her" in the Debauchery Tea Party, as well as companions who were helping "her". Shiroe was also a companion there.

The people Shiroe met in the Debauchery Tea Party might be the first friends he met in Elder Tales. Naotsugu was one of them.

"Since you were coming back, that means your job was stabilizing?"

"Yeah, it is more or less stable. Aye, this has been a hectic year."

The Debauchery Tea Party went on for 2 years, which was the most fulfilling and joyful period in Shiroe"s time in Elder Tales. But after some incidents, the Debauchery Tea Party which created many legends came to an end.

One of the reasons was Naotsugu taking a break away from the game.

During the winter of that year, Naotsugu wasn"t able to go online for a period of time because of his busy work schedule. Several people also left the game at that point due to personal reasons.

The Debauchery Tea Party was not a guild.

Since it was not a guild, they did not have any obligatory relationships. Although everyone was all grown up and wouldn"t say it due to embarra.s.sment, this group... treasured their friendship very much.

It was not decided by anyone, the Debauchery Tea Party just went on an indefinite hiatus. They thought about inviting new friends to carry on the congregation, but that would be a different adventure and story.

Although the Debauchery Tea Party ceasing to function made them sad, no one hung their head in regret. They enjoyed many more adventures than most people that was rewarding enough.

"Work was finally on track and going sort of smoothly right now. What really sucks is that there are no cute girls there."

"That doesn"t matter right?"

Shiroe brushed off Naotsugu"s complaints.

Naotsugu could be described as a "hero". 

Shiroe thought Naotsugu had more courage than him. It might be recklessness in some situations, but Shiroe had never seen Naotsugu stop being a chatterbox no matter what happened.

"What"s with your eyes? Closet pervert look?"

"I"m not a closet anything."

"Yes you are. There are 2 type of men in this world, open perverts who admit it and closet perverts who don"t. I am an open pervert who likes panties, Shiroe is a closet pervert who definitely likes panties."

The ridiculous theory made Shiroe pout.

But Shiroe wasn"t angry.

Naotsugu had always been sensitive about others and his words were meant to lighten the mood. Even if his dirty jokes might trouble others, Shiroe was a healthy man, so he was also interested in the opposite s.e.x. He knew that he could take this level of joke and conversation.

"I also like... Ah, although I like girls, I still have standards."

"I know personality is important, but you can still be attracted by their appearances."

"... You might be right, but we don"t need to stoop so low right?"

"Yeah."

Naotsugu gave a big sigh.

Shiroe nodded, he understood Naotsugu"s point.

"Even if work had calmed down, there was no need to take a vacation in the virtual world. And with things like this, can we really go back?"

Naotsugu said jokingly.

All the other players trapped in this world should be asking the same thing. Naotsugu expressing this suffocating problem in such a joking manner showed his mental tenacity and his concern for Shiroe.

"I was thinking, maybe a new G.o.d just took over, and had a delusional fantasy." 

"It is so cruel to trap us this way. Really, the whole world has turned upside down, is this some type of festival?"

"Yeah, let"s not have any expectations that we can go back anytime soon."

"Your way of accepting this situation also seems ruthless."

"Only suicidal people will show mercy when they know what is going on."

"As expected of the tactician of the Tea Party."

Naotsugu replied condescendingly, then shook his head and said with a serious expression.

"Right, no expectations for now. So going by the fantasy novel settings, we need to survive by our own from now on?"

He was not happy about this, but Shiroe nodded and agreed with Naotsugu"s questions. According to Shiroe"s memory, he had done everything as usual, living normally, taking baths, logging in to Elder Tales, and fighting monsters with the beginner twins before his consciousness was cut off.

Everything he did was about the same as usual, but he was forcefully trapped in this situation.

It might be due to some external factors or some mistake he made, but there was no way for Shiroe to find out.

There might be some way out of this situation and alternate world, but Shiroe didn"t know how at this instant.

In other words, be it searching for a way back or going back to the old world by some unknown external mechanism, they needed to live in this world before that happened.

"We might wake up in our old world if we die here, but I wouldn"t recommend doing that. Acting like that would be the same as "borrowing a billion dollars from loan sharks because you think the earth might explode!" "

"Doesn"t seems like a wise choice. If dying here meant dying for real, that would be a waste."

"That"s right."

"But tactician Shiro, it shouldn"t be a problem if we just want to survive right?"

"Is it?"

"We are level 90 right? It might be bad if we needed to challenge a difficult zone, but it shouldn"t be hard just living on right? We have money, we have equipment... My equipment is a bit outdated, but it is still serviceable, so there shouldn"t be any problem right?"

Elder Tales was a RPG that used level systems, both Shiroe and Naotsugu were at level 90, the previous level cap in this world.

But this was not something worth mentioning, about half the players were level 90.

Elder Tales had a long history and similar to other online games, it had went through hundreds of updates, adding all sorts of game elements.

Although Shiroe didn"t experience that period, the level cap when Elder Tales just started was 50. The players enjoyed the Elder Tales world and would grind their characters to the level cap, and request for more adventures from the developers.

To meet these demands, the developers pushed out an expansion pack. It had new enemies, dungeons and adventures, as well as a higher level cap for the heroes to become stronger. There had been several level cap revisions since then; the latest one was 90.

The cap of level 90 came with the "Sacred Heart" expansion 3 years ago. The official announcement for the "Novasphere Pioneers" expansion pack included an increased level cap to 100.

This meant the players would have time to grow their Adventurer"s avatar.

Before the release of the new expansion pack, half the players were already at the level cap and there was nothing strange about it.

"... I don"t think this is it."

"Why?"

Naotsugu was not discouraged even when facing such a situation.

Shiroe admired Naotsugu"s optimism. Shiroe didn"t have his mental strength.

Shiroe was filled with unease. His heart a.n.a.lyzed the situation as if it were driven by this sense of unease.

"We came to this alternate world... though we do not know if this is simply a game world, but we were sucked into this situation... That is already a strange matter."

"Yeah? Eh, that"s not wrong... Hmmm?

"Simply put, I think "It is impossible to stumble into an alternate world by normal logic. Since something extraordinary happened, we cannot take anything for granted. So we might get hurt if we take it for granted that we will be fine.""

Shiroe"s words stunned Naotsugu for a while, and he replied with a resisting expression.

"Your syllogism sounds really nasty." 

"My point is that we can"t ignore this too."

"You have a point, but..."

Naotsugu clenched and unclenched his fist repeatedly, maybe he was doubting the reliability of his level 90 body.

"I want to make another thing clear, you might have missed it because of the uproar... But the new expansion pack should be in effect now."

"Novasphere Pioneers, right?"

"Yeah, this means there will be new equipment, monsters, quests, and more zones as well, right? They might have remodeled some areas too."

"Now that you mention it... that is absolutely right."

Shiroe shifted his gaze away from Naotsugu and continued:

"Magic seems to work here. Choosing the magic from the menu is dangerous and slow in a live battle, but if we set it on the hotkey, we can cast spells after a short cast time, I have confirmed this."

"Yeah, I tried that too, all the skills I learned can be executed."

"But that doesn"t mean we can win battles."

"Is that so?"

"How tall are you Naotsugu? I mean in real life."

"183cm, same as my game character."

Naotsugu rubbed the top of his head.

"I see, so there should be no strange sensation for you. There is several cm difference between me and my character"s height, so it feels a bit off. Eh, something like wearing shoes with thick soles... If the length of the limbs are different, this sensation is even more obvious. There are some differences between this body and our real body, this is not the body we are familiar with. Even if we can use swords or magic, how accustomed we are to fighting is an unknown."

"Ah, you are right, that is a bunch of troublesome problems."

"... Another important matter is the difficulty in checking the status screen."

Naotsugu had a surprised face as Shiroe carried on.

"We can see the status screen by focusing on our forehead. If we form a party, we should be able to see each other"s HP, but to do that in live battle will be hard. I"m still fine, but for Naotsugu who is on the frontline, it will be difficult to keep track of the status screen while fighting the enemies in front of you."

"You mean it is difficult to fight?"

"I think it is better to keep this in mind."

He did not explain it to Naotsugu, but the field of vision was crucial as well. You could make your point of view wider if you were playing from the monitor and see things from a wider angle. But currently, they could only see at an angle of 120 degrees in front of them.

Take trolls and giants as examples, fighting these huge foes would create blind spots that weren"t there before... There were tons of problems in terms of battles.

"Anything else?"

"Also..."

"What is it, is it hard to say?"

Shiroe was surprised by his own troubled sigh.

Frankly, the issues with battles and the difference in game environment were trivial. It could be troublesome and more challenging, but Shiroe thought this was something they could overcome.

The things he wanted to say made Shiroe"s heart heavy, he had been buying time by talking about unimportant things to prepare himself.

"What is it, famous tactician?"

Although Naotsugu called him that, Shiroe was not fit to be a tactician.

Shiroe would voice his thoughts because it was Naotsugu, but Shiroe was used to thinking about all sorts of things by himself.

Because of his attention to minute details, the Debauchery Tea Party gave him the nickname of "tactician". He had a way with words, so he took on the duty of planning and coordinating battles.

"... The j.a.panese server of Elder Tales has 1,200,000 registered characters with 100,000 consistent players."

"Hmmm? That is correct."

For players like Shiroe, such numbers were common sense.

"Today is the release of the new expansion pack, so there are more people online than usual. From the ratio of the people who are online on my friend list, I estimate about 30,000 people are online. At this point, this should be correct... This alternate world is accommodating 30,000 j.a.panese, I am not sure about the North America, Europe, or China server though."

Naotsugu nodded in agreement.

"So there are 30,000 people here..."

Shiroe didn"t use the word players intentionally.

"We have no laws or government."

Naotsugu headed towards the city with Shiroe.

They tried to discuss further, but they lacked information to talk about so they couldn"t conclude anything. They needed to focus on getting information for now.

This was common sense while playing Elder Tales, but they weren"t sure if it was applicable now.

To play it safe, Naotsugu and Shiroe formed a party.

Parties were a way for people to interact, it meant a battle team. Unlike guilds, parties were temporary groups allowing you to check each other"s HP and status if you were in it together. They could tell each other"s distance and direction when in the same zone.

Akiba was a non-combat zone.

If you fought here, no matter if your opponent was a NPC or a normal player, the city guards would rush over in an instant and send the guilty party to jail. If the perpetrator attacked the guard, they would be executed on-site.

There were many characters not controlled by players in Elder Tales. They were the NPCs in the game system, known in this world as People of the Land.

They mostly worked as shopkeepers, selling all sorts of things, or helped with administration, such as guild registration. They also acted like pedestrians in the streets, interacting with players by providing information or quests.

Since all the guards were higher than level 100, the players were unable to resist them.

Monsters wouldn"t appear in the city. According to common sense in Elder Tales, this was one of the safe regions in this world.

It was like summer once they exited the abandoned building, with the humid wind blowing across the whole city. The smell of mud was in the air, and the gra.s.s and leaves swayed with the wind.

This scenery was too natural, making the idea "we are in a game" vaporize from Shiroe"s mind. The presence of this world in his senses was too strong. The feeling of being in an alternate world was getting firmer; this was nothing like a game.

Making a turn at the avenue, they reached a major road with four lanes. At the corner was a high tech building made with composite materials, looking like a memorial. Head straight along the Akiba main road junction and you would reach the city square in front of the metro. Every building was either collapsed or covered in vines, slowly being replaced by giant ancient trees.

This was not like Akiba in the real world, a high tech city made with gla.s.s and steel.

The colorful signboards and flashy decorations were broken, either slanting or broken in half, hanging off the giant silver-leafed trees growing beside it.

The roads had been completely eroded by mud, and glimpses of the asphalt surface could only be seen on the major roads. The alleys were covered with mud and moss just like a trail in a natural park.

The hybrid cars that had been abandoned since ancient times were enveloped by gra.s.s and were the habitat of small animals.

This might be a sad sight, but it was still beautiful, like a painting in a way. It was not a polished kind of beauty, but the abandoned buildings decorated with the many colors of nature were full of life and vitality.

The players and NPCs occupied these ruins as their home and set up stalls and shops on the road side, giving it a feeling of a bazaar. This was the same as Shiroe"s home town in Elder Tales.

If it were the usual Elder Tales, there would be many players gathered in front of the city square, and people would set up shop and sell things to other players. Others would kill time here by waiting for comrades to go out for raids, it was a place full of life.

But this place was full of confusion, chaos, and a complicated sense of frustration now.

He could see at least a few hundred players here.

Not only this, the surrounding ruins and narrow alleys that overlooked the plaza... he can also feel the stares of people standing on the deteriorated high-speed rails.

Everyone must be here hoping for some form of savior.

The game officials might appear in this place and explain the incident by announcing "This concludes the event, isn"t it impressive everyone?"... They must have gathered here hoping for something like that.

Even the players bearing such whimsical hopes were letting down their guard and conversing with others. The noise volume that he could hear was lower than he expected from such a crowd.

They gathered in cl.u.s.ters all over the place. Some threw worried glances around, some would sob, while others would vent by cursing out loud.

They may have realized unconsciously that anything might happen. But the crowd had no intention of doing anything about it, which annoyed Shiroe.

(Do they plan to sit here forever? Really? Wah, I met someone"s gaze!)

Shiroe moved his sight away in surprise.

A pair of sorrowful eyes looked at him pleading for help.

Shiroe didn"t think he was mentally weak, but he didn"t want to test himself in those muddy eyes.

And...

(... This is irritating.)

Just squatting there like they were paralyzed.

Not doing anything, yet still complaining, irritated Shiroe. He could empathize with them, but the sight of a few hundred players looking crestfallen was not good for their psychological health.

Shiroe was able to take action after overcoming his initial dejection by chance, and he got a hold of his emotions after meeting Naotsugu. He was no different than the players sitting there waiting to be saved, and Shiroe understood that. Maybe that was the reason the feeling of irritation was so much stronger for him.

"Shiroe? Isn"t that Shiro-bouyan?"

That came from a female voice. It was not too loud, but in this quiet and depressed atmosphere, the cheerful bell-like voice attracted a lot of attention.

Shiroe turned and looked for the source in surprise.

"Mary-nee, Mary-nee. That was too loud. This... This is too prominent!"

"It"s like a funeral procession here, what is the problem with that?"

Shiroe was pulled by Maryele"s hand. The woman who ignored Shiroe"s words and kept on talking was a female player Maryele, also known as Mary-nee. 

"You came at the right time, I was just looking for Shiro-bou."

"... Eh, may I ask, why were you looking for me?"

"Woo wah, what a beautiful lady. Shiro, where were you hiding this hot chick? You panties pervert."

"Please don"t use the word panties now, Naotsugu."

The three of them left the city square slowly and entered an inconspicuous alley. They didn"t leave because they did anything wrong, but the atmosphere in the city square might give them tummy aches. And they were talking to Maryele who was more famous than Shiroe, so they had to be aware of their surroundings as well.

"What an impatient boy you are, Shiro-bou, bringing me to a place like this."

"That"s not what I want."

"So you found a girlfriend; that was quick."

"That"s not it. Sorry. Sorry. Ah, this is Naotsugu."

"I am Naotsugu, friend of Shiro... How may I address you?"

"I am Maryele, you can call me Marie or Mary-nee. Wow wow! Naotsugu-yan is handsome too! You guys are a combo?"

Maryele laughed gently. Although Shiroe was observing her and trying to see if she had any hidden meaning behind this, there was no sign of malicious intent in her smiling face. She was hard to deal with because she meant what she said.

Maryele, who was smiling so warmly despite the situation that they were in, was a Cleric.

There were 12 cla.s.ses in Elder Tales, all the players, meaning all the Adventurers, had to choose one of these cla.s.ses to begin their adventure. Among the 3 healer cla.s.ses, Clerics had the strongest healing abilities.

Healers helped survivability but were weak in attack, a cla.s.s suitable for adventuring with parties but not acting alone. The principle of the healer cla.s.s was to a.s.sist others, players who chose this cla.s.s were usually introverts, but Maryele was an exception.

Wearing a long white robe for healers and a head of long green hair, she was an elf which usually had a cute appearance. She looked just like she did in Elder Tales. Because it was a game world, all the players were hunks and beauties, but some players just had the charms to attract the goodwill of others.

In Elder Tales, which had a voice chat function, this was even more obvious. Maryele, who was from Osaka, had a cheerful voice and helpful nature, a lot of players knew her. Instead of just being popular with the opposite s.e.x, she was popular with everyone because of her forthright style.

Maryele would not act like a spoiled girl and was admired by people of both genders. Shiroe was a veteran player so he knew a lot of people. But Maryele was different from Shiroe, a player who enjoyed helping others and had a wide network of friends.

She was the guild master of the Crescent Moon Alliance which had about a dozen or so members. She would hold parties in the pub in Akiba frequently, so she was well known in Elder Tales.

"You have such a gloomy expression."

"... Eh, that"s still okay."

(Do I look so gloomy?) Shiroe worried.

Having a long face was normal in this situation, but he thought about how his facial features in the real world would reflect on the body of this world.

In the real world, Shiroe had been described as having "wicked eyes". He didn"t use contacts to avoid looking even scarier.

In the Elder Tales that had become reality, hearing others call him gloomy made Shiroe think they had discovered his wicked eyes feature from the real world, so he was a bit frantic.

(But Mary-nee is also...)

Looking at Maryele, you could see that there were some differences between her and the typical forest elves.

"Anyway, I also don"t want to be gloomy and I can understand how you feel. I have had enough, this is so ridiculous that I"m feeling psychotic."

Bright hazel eyes, the contours of an elf with a hint of n.o.bility, the slightly thick brows, and a big mouth that was smiling warmly. You could tell from her face that she was kind and warm, just how Maryele would look like.

He had never seen Maryele in person before, but Shiroe could feel that "Ahah, this is indeed Mary-nee".

"What kind of look is this? Hmmph, you must be thinking this is not my style right?"

Maryele touched Shiroe"s forehead gently with her finger.

"My joking nature is my hobby, but the jokes I am making now are escapism. I"m really troubled right now."

"Is she always like this, Shiro?"

"Yeah, she is always like this."

"But is she pretending right now?"

"I can"t tell the difference."

Maryele"s words surprised Naotsugu, but Naotsugu was beginning to understand her personality. Maryele laughed loudly at Naotsugu"s reservations towards her, but she stopped and sighed under the stares of Shiroe and Naotsugu.

"Aye, hmmm... The situation is bad."

"Yes... want to exchange information?"

"That"s fine, where should we start? No, I remember, hmmm, let"s be careful and talk at my place. Would you mind, Naotsugu-yan?"

Maryele invited them to her guild hall.

They could relax there, so the trio went around the Fulleger hotel and headed towards the guild building.

The guild building was a facility available in all cities and they usually housed other facilities, forming a multipurpose mega structure.

For Akiba, the guild building itself was a zone with several NPCs working in the lobby. They were the staff of this guild building, you could form a guild by going to them. Players could join or withdraw from a guild by talking to them and going through the administrative process.

There was also a branch of the bank here. Everyone in this game world had a bank account used to deposit cash or valuable items.

There was also another important function for the guild building, the rental of guild halls. Guild halls were independent mid-sized zones, ranging from 3 to 10 rooms of living s.p.a.ce that doubled as an office.

Some zones were open for sale in Elder Tales and players could buy and own them. They could set permissions for the purchased zone to allow the entry of specific players and design the interior of the zone as they liked, so many players also bought a small- to medium-sized area as their residence.

Although it was purchased, they needed to pay maintenance fees apart from the indicated price. The upkeep fee is 0.2% of the sale price per month, so only players with a certain amount of wealth would dare to buy it.

That"s how guild halls came about, a zone that was specially made for guilds to rent. A guild that had a large enough scale would rent a guild hall in the guild building. This way, items, ingredients and crafted items could be stored there, it also allowed members to gather and interact.

Crescent Moon Alliance was such a guild, having their own personal s.p.a.ce in this guild building.

Shiroe and Naotsugu walked up the stairs to the 2nd floor of the guild building.

Going through a set of double doors, Shiroe and Naotsugu registered as visitors and entered the guild hall of Crescent Moon Alliance.

The guild halls in Akiba guild building had a basic retro design. Even though it was a basic design, it was just because of the floor and wallpaper that it gave off this feeling.

You could decorate the zone you rented or bought any way you wanted to. The guild hall of Crescent Moon Alliance had been cleaned thoroughly by its members, making it a comfortable place.

The walls were wooden veneer, giving it a warm familial feeling.

"We won"t disturb other people here, right?"

Maryele walked further into the guild hall as she said this.

"Come in. Ah, no need to hold back, take a seat. Please take a seat too, Naotsugu."

After entering a room deep within the guild hall, Maryele pounced on a couch full of pink pillows and gestured for Shiroe and Naotsugu to sit.

"This is quite a feminine room."

"That"s right. I am a guild master after all, so my room needs to reflect the dignity of a guild master."

Pink pillows, teddy bears, a princess bed, a painting of a n.o.ble-looking dog, and curtains with yellow laces. These decorations, in Shiroe"s eyes, had nothing to do with the word dignity. Shiroe felt distraught staying in a place like this.

He wouldn"t feel this way if it were a screen from a game, but he could feel this atmosphere as he entered this s.p.a.ce for real.

He felt restless like an intruder in a private room. Fortunately it was the forthright Maryele"s room; if it was the private room of any other girl, Shiroe would have definitely retreated.

But even if the decor was too flashy, the room of the guild master was very s.p.a.cious. They also had 5-6 rooms for storage and works.p.a.ce, a rental for a guild hall like this must be quite high.

(Hmmm, 40,000 with an upkeep of 80... about this kind of price right?)

Shiroe estimated in secret. This was the first time he was invited into this guild hall.

"How is your side coping with this, Mary-nee?"

"There are 19 people online including me, 18 of us are in Akiba. Everyone is afraid and is staying inside the guild hall... Ah, don"t be too concerned, they won"t hear us if we aren"t too noisy."

Maryele should have been prepared for this as she answered Shiroe"s query smoothly.

18 in Akiba, meaning 1 of them was in another zone. Shiroe found out after asking, that member was on an errand in another city.

"From what we know, Shibuya, Minami, Susukino and Nakasu are in the same state."

This meant all 5 cities in Akiba"s server were in the same situation. Maryele should have confirmed this using her wide network of friends.

"Could it be that..."

"That"s right, the inter-city transport gate has stopped functioning, we have been isolated."

Maryele answered Naotsugu"s queries, this was new information.

Akiba, Shibuya, Minami, Susukino and Nakasu.

These 5 places were the 5 major player cities in the j.a.panese server. Apart from these 5 cities, there were also many cities populated by stores and NPCs, but in terms of completeness of available services, these 5 cities were top cla.s.s.

These 5 major cities had been set to be starting cities as expansion packs increased the game contents. All players on the j.a.panese servers had to choose one of these 5 cities as their base of operation.

There was also an inter-city transport gate in each of them, so it was possible to move instantaneously between these 5 cities... But they were not functioning right now.

"It means that going to Shibuya is still okay, but other cities will be difficult."

"Even if it is Shibuya, eh, how many was it? We need to go through 7-8 zones to reach it?"

"The shortest distance is 4 zones."

Shiroe replied casually. The inter-city gates being down was a major problem.

Elder Tales, which had a fantasy setting, used horses or walking as a primary means of transportation for Adventurers. But with the implementation of the Half Gaia Project that created this world at half its scale, traveling this way took too much time. To deal with this issue, the game had Fairy Rings and the inter-city transport gates as an alternative means of travel.

The inter-city transport gates were set in the player cities, allowing you to teleport instantly to any of the 5 cities. With these gates down, the difficulty of commuting with far away cities had increased rapidly.

Take Susukino for instance, it was situated in Sapporo on the map of j.a.pan, from Akiba... From Tokyo to Susukino, you needed to go through a huge amount of zones, it would take at least a week even in the game.

That was referring to in-game time, but in-game time should be the same as the time of this new reality from the look of things.

"Can you imagine... why did things turn out this way?"

Shiroe and the others could only answer with silence.

Seeing Maryele"s dejected expression, Shiroe wished to answer this question, but he didn"t have the ability to.

"Cheer up, Onee-san... Things are serious now, but it could be worse."

"Is that so...?"

Naotsugu continued talking to the depressed Maryele:

"Even though we are trapped in this alternate world, there should be tens of thousand of j.a.panese here, right? Including the hundreds of thousand of players overseas, we have so many people in the same boat as us, so it"s not the worse case scenario, right? We have a common language, some money on hand, and we can still talk in this room after barging into this world, isn"t this the best evidence? I haven"t confirmed it yet, but our stamina seems to have strengthened according to our character"s status, we can use swords and magic. In other words, we have been given the basic ability to survive in this world. Compared to cla.s.sic fantasy novels where the characters travel to an alternate world, we are much more fortunate, you can even say it is a piece of cake."

Naotsugu encouraged her strongly.

"Are you familiar with such things, Naotsugu?"

"I"m quite alright, I"ve read quite a bit about this when I was still schooling."

Even though it was a pointless question, Shiroe was still impressed by Naotsugu. That made a lot of sense. He was used to seeing things pessimistically, that"s why he missed the cheerful part.

Maryele seemed to be the same."Yeah... You are right!"

She looked at Naotsugu with grat.i.tude and hugged him all of a sudden.

"Yeah! You"re right! Naotsugu-yan! Impressive! I"m so moved, you have saved me!"

"Hold on, hmmm? What"s with her?"

Naotsugu struggled under Maryele"s embrace, but Maryele ignored him and hugged him tight.

"Marie? You have visitors?"

A lady wearing spectacles knocked as she entered. She had an awkward expression as she looked at Maryele and Naotsugu.

"Sorry to intrude, Henrietta-san."

"h.e.l.lo, Shiroe-sama.. Should I come back later?"

"I was hoping you could stop her."

"On it. Really... Hey Marie! Don"t act in such a shameful manner!"

The lady entering on Shiroe"s request was Henrietta in charge of the guild"s accounts. She pulled Maryele back by her shoulders and lectured her.

"Wah! Henrietta? I heard some great opinions, Naotsugu-yan is right! He gave such a great speech!"

"I"m not asking about this! Now is a crucial period, consider the situation!"

Seeing the blushing and exhausted Naotsugu and the interaction between Maryele and Henrietta, Shiroe laughed.

Henrietta was a core member of the Crescent Moon Alliance and on good terms with Shiroe.

She was a Bard in charge of the guild"s finances, a competent character. From Shiroe"s perspective, he felt close to her since they both wore gla.s.ses. But looking at Henrietta in this alternate world, he felt this feeling was just his one-sided opinion.

With wavy blonde hair, an oval face, and sharp chestnut eyes, she had a beautiful style like a secretary. She was wearing office clothing that showed off her mature and graceful beauty, which suited her very well.

Shiroe was just a graduate student who liked gaming. When their eyes met, Shiroe felt he could not handle her.

After Henrietta joined in, the four of them talked about their experiences so far and summarized their situation... But it had only been half a day, they still didn"t really understand what happened.

"What should we do now..."

"I think we should get in touch with our comrades through telepathy to avoid any confusion."

Henrietta made a calm suggestion and Shiroe agreed. Don"t think too far ahead, just do what you could for now, or you would be swallowed up by the current state of affairs. This was what Shiroe felt.

"That is correct, Marie. Shiroe-sama and Naotsugu-sama both made good points. Fortunately we have a guild hall, so for sleeping at night... It might be a bit of a squeeze, but I think it would be better for everyone to sleep here for now."

"That"s right..."

Henrietta and Maryele"s conversation made Naotsugu flinch.

"What is it, Naotsugu?"

"Nothing, just that this is so sudden, I"m not sure what to do."

Naotsugu denied in a hurry when he heard Shiroe"s question. He was always making dirty jokes but seemed so weak to direct attacks.

"Is Naotsugu-yan weak against b.r.e.a.s.t.s? Want to touch?"

Naotsugu averted his eyes at Maryele"s words, although he still took a peek. b.r.e.a.s.t.s held the hopes and desires of men after all.

(Mary-nee is a beauty with a big bust after all, I can understand.)

Shiroe agreed in his heart.

Shiroe was also bullied by Maryele when they first met. But Shiroe insisted on putting on the att.i.tude of "Ah? What about these 2 lumps of fat? They"re heavy, please take them away".

There was no need to emphasize on it, that was just Shiroe trying to be vain.

The Elder Tales then was just a game so that the teasing was just through the conversation, while the screen showed their characters sticking together. Maryele had stopped teasing Shiroe this way recently, since she probably got bored of it.

"Why is this onee-chan acting so bold? It"s scary."

"Marie came from a girls" school, and Osaka people will become like that in those kinds of environments... Marie?! It doesn"t matter since this is a game, but now is a crucial period so restrain yourself!"

Maryele bore Henrietta"s lecture with a dejected expression. The fact that she would humbly accept criticism, even though she was the guild master, was Maryele"s good point.

Shiroe did not join any guild and didn"t trust the guild system, but that didn"t mean he disliked players in guilds.

It had been several years since he developed his hate of guilds. He didn"t really get over it, but he was able to accept it now.

He had formed parties with Maryele and Henrietta several times; Maryele with her wide network of friends also gave Shiroe a lot of help. If Shiroe was not mistaken, the cheerful Maryele who liked to take care of others would keep her distance from Shiroe who was afraid of personal relationships as a way to show her concern.

(Mary-nee is mature in a different way from Naotsugu.)

She didn"t do it to curry favor with Shiroe or to balance their mutually beneficial relationship. The blessings that came along with Maryele"s personality and kind nature, she didn"t just give to Shiroe, but to all those around he