Game’s End Part 2

by Mamare Touno

  Copyright

  Log Horizon, Volume 4

  Mamare Touno

  Illustration by Kazuhiro Hara

  Translation by Taylor Engel

  Cover art by Kazuhiro Hara

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  LOG HORIZON, VOLUME 4

  Game’s End, Part II

  ©Touno Mamare 2011

  First published in Japan in 2011 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo.

  English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo, through Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc., Tokyo.

  English translation © 2016 by Yen Press, LLC

  Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  Yen On

  150 West 30th Street, 19th Floor

  New York, NY 10001

  Visit us at yenpress.com

  facebook.com/yenpress

  twitter.com/yenpress

  yenpress.tumblr.com

  instagram.com/yenpress

  First Yen On eBook Edition: February 2020

  Originally published in paperback in March 2016 by Yen On.

  Yen On is an imprint of Yen Press, LLC.

  The Yen On name and logo are trademarks of Yen Press, LLC.

  The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  ISBN: 978-1-9753-0987-9

  E3-20200204-JV-NF-ORI

  1

  While Marielle shielded the newbie Adventurers and Shouryuu kicked up waves, bellowing a challenge to the sahuagins, another battle was beginning in the mountains at the center of the Zantleaf Peninsula.

  The enemy was goblins.

  There was no telling where they’d sprung from, but a significant number of small, squad-sized groups seemed to be prowling through the forest.

  Naotsugu’s group was in the square outside Forest Ragranda, and by now they’d beaten back a dozen or so attacks. There were thirteen players gathered in the square: the five members of Minori’s party and the six members of the advanced party, plus Naotsugu and Lezarik, the Cleric sent by the Knights of the Black Sword.

  They had thought the first attack was an accidental encounter with rogue goblins.

  After a few more skirmishes, however, Naotsugu had changed his mind, deciding their party must have stumbled into the path of a small traveling tribe. However, when the number of encounters reached six, the doubt had grown too large to ignore.

  At that point, Nyanta had gone into the mountains to reconnoiter.

  While awaiting his return, thirteen people had broken camp and were keeping a wary eye on the surrounding area.

  As far as enemies went, in terms of fighting power, a single goblin wasn’t much of a threat. Of course, the race had prodigious strength in numbers and plentiful troop variations, so when considered as an army, they were formidable. However, goblins’ core level range was only 10 to 20. In other words, when viewed as individuals, even Minori and the other newbies—whose levels were only around 25—could easily handle them.

  As a result, the newbies were relatively calm as they worked the campsite, even though the situation was potentially murky. Leaving items earmarked for the big tent to Naotsugu and Lezarik (who had mass-reducing bags), the newbies began to pack the sundry items around them into ready-made rucksacks.

  “Something smells fishy.”

  “Hm?”

  Naotsugu had spoken as he was taking down the tent, and Lezarik, right next to him, responded with a question.

  “I don’t like this. Not one bit. Vague bad-feeling city.”

  “But they’re just goblins.”

  From Lezarik’s expression, he thought he was making a big deal over nothing. Even Lezarik, a healer, could put down ten or twenty goblins on his own.

  “Yeah, but the goblin encounter rate out here in the mountains shouldn’t be this high, should it?”

  “Well…”

  Naotsugu shot a glance at the newbs to check on them. They’d split up, putting saddlebags on the horses and extinguishing the fire. “Plus, we’ve got those guys with us now. If something happens, I’ve got the feeling it’s gonna blow up big-time.”

  “Hmm…”

  Lezarik was also a veteran player—sent from the Knights of the Black Sword, one of Akiba’s distinguished large guilds—and he didn’t laugh off Naotsugu’s words. He seemed to be considering something.

  The bushes rustled, ejecting a thin shadow into the square.

  A green corduroy jacket. A too-thin, cat-headed gentleman wearing a necktie: It was Nyanta. His eyes were narrowed, as usual, but the somewhat hard expression on his face wasn’t usual at all. He went over to Naotsugu and Lezarik.

  “What’s up?”

  “Mm.”

  Nyanta’s attitude naturally drew Naotsugu and Lezarik—the leaders—to him.

  The newbies were continuing to strike the camp as instructed, and they didn’t seem to have noticed that Nyanta was back yet.

  “Things don’t feel good. It’s a large-scale march: An army of at least several thousand goblins is passing through one ridge over. It’s impossible to tell just how many of them there really are.”

  At Nyanta’s words, all at once, Lezarik’s face grew tense.

  There had been cases of goblins conducting military operations in the past. In fact, goblins were one of the varieties of demihuman that enjoyed military action, and they plundered repeatedly in groups. However, goblins rarely marched by the thousands over long distances.

  Goblin intelligence was low, and their basic approach consisted of spreading a ring of plunder over nearby towns and villages like the plague.

  Something was odd here. Something wasn’t right. The instincts of the three veteran players had picked up on this accurately, and as a result, their expressions were tense.

  “Tch! Well, there’s no help for it.”

  Naotsugu nodded once, as though he’d vaguely suspected this. “Did you call it in?” he asked Nyanta.

  “I reported it to Shiroecchi. However, I can’t reach Miss Marielle or Shouryuu.”

  “You can’t?”

  “They may be napping, or busy fighting, or perhaps they’re both involved in other telechats at the moment. I don’t know which it is.”

  Nyanta’s words were calm, but much of his usual composure was missing.

  He had been joking about the napping, and although that might have been possible with Marielle, it was hard to imagine with Shouryuu. Upon hearing his concerns, Lezarik’s gaze suddenly went distant, as if he was looking at something far away. It was the expression unique to telechats.

  Noticing this, Naotsugu and Nyanta stopped talking and waited, but Lezarik’s response was also, “No, it’s no good. There should be Knights of the Black Sword at the coast as well, but I can’t reach them.”

  Neither Naotsugu nor Nyanta had any other Crescent Moon League members registered to their friend lists. …Or rather, Serara was on Nyanta’s list, but she was right there with them, working to dismantle the camp.

  Naotsugu and the others had gone out with the junior members many times before, but the only one they’d needed to be able to contact had been Shouryuu, and af
ter that they’d been able to handle everything through regular conversation. This might have been carelessness on their part.

  The three of them let their imaginations run.

  There were all sorts of possibilities, and they had reason to assume the worst. However, whatever the case, they couldn’t rush headlong to the coast. Doing that would mean leaving their own newbies behind.

  Even if each individual goblin was low level, apparently there was a horde of at least several thousand out there, just one peak away. Even if they didn’t cross the ridge, no doubt there were squads of goblins lurking in the nearby forest.

  They didn’t dare leave new players here in the mountains.

  “So how did the goblins look?”

  “The ones mewving through the valley are a large-scale plunder tribe. It looked as if the woods themselves had begun to walk. I’ve never seen an army of that size before. I saw hobgoblins and trolls as well—it looked like a full-fledged invasion brigade, complete with magical beast mewnits. They seemed to be traveling west-southwest, but that isn’t certain, so I can’t say…”

  “Then the ones we’ve been encountering are advance scout squads?”

  Abruptly, Minori’s voice spoke.

  When Naotsugu turned, there stood Touya, Minori, and the other three members of the beginner party. All wore rigid, tense expressions: Apparently they’d overheard the conversation.

  “Several thousand… One ridge over?”

  Rundelhaus lifted his eyes, as if he were looking through the trees of the forest. His face held not fear, but determination.

  During the brief moment when the three leaders were speechless, Serara began to speak in a clear voice.

  “I took care of the newbies at the Crescent Moon League. So, um, you see… I have all of them registered to my friend list. Right? You do, too, don’t you, Isuzu?”

  “Y-yes. Of course.”

  “Do you think you could contact them and find out what the situation is?”

  Before Naotsugu could speak, the two had agreed to Minori’s request and opened their friend lists. Seeing this, Naotsugu scratched at his head, laughing at his own carelessness. He’d forgotten that Serara and Isuzu, members of the Crescent Moon League themselves, would have an easier time making contact with others in it.

  When he thought about it, it was completely obvious.

  And now that things had come to this, there was no point in hiding anything: If they were returning to the camp, they’d have to tell everyone about it in any case. Naotsugu and Lezarik called over the remaining six members of the advance party and briefly explained the situation.

  Anyway, they’d been planning to strike camp and return to the abandoned school after noon; they couldn’t very well work on capturing the dungeon when they were surrounded by an army of goblins. Their current issues were choosing a route to travel by, and discovering the state of the other training units that were scattered across the area.

  Serara and Isuzu added their voices to the conversation.

  According to the information the two of them had gathered, a fierce running battle was in progress along the coast. Blue Goblins had come up out of the sea, and their group was heading toward the abandoned school in a traveling formation, with the high-level leaders bringing up the rear.

  “Blue gobs? …Tch! Wait, sahuagins?! What the heck?!” Naotsugu exclaimed.

  Sahuagins were minor monsters, and he’d never heard of any being sighted on the peninsula. That particular monster appeared in the warmer areas farther south.

  “A coincidence…perhaps?”

  Naturally, Lezarik was asking about the connection between the goblins and the sahuagins. Since none of the members had the answer to that question, it was met with silence. However, it was probably too optimistic to explain away the two armies’ almost simultaneous appearance as coincidence.

  At present, it didn’t seem as though heading for the abandoned school was necessarily the best choice. If worse came to worst, they might find themselves surrounded by goblins and sahuagins.

  Still, yeah, I guess if it comes right down to it, we can all just use Call of Home, Naotsugu thought, steadfastly convinced.

  Chanting Call of Home would get them back to Akiba easily, but once they were back, getting to Zantleaf again would require a journey of several days. That made it an option best kept as a last resort.

  He also thought it would be dangerous to carelessly take Minori and the other newbies back to the abandoned school.

  However, if Marielle’s group was heading back to the school, the most important thing was to meet up with them somehow, call roll, and make sure all the summer camp participants were safe.

  Nyanta and Lezarik agreed with that plan.

  Once the assembled had made up their minds, the rest happened quickly.

  Since there was no telling when the goblin army might turn up, it was pointless to wait around where they were.

  According to what Nyanta had said, there were small detachments of goblin scouts scattered through the surrounding forest over a fairly wide range. As that was the case, they’d probably find themselves in a few battles, but it would probably be safer to just go ahead and force their way through.

  “Okay then, we’re about to head back to the abandoned school camp. Nyanta, Lezarik, and I will be in the lead as a party of three. Yes, I said ‘three,’ but we’re not about to let a bunch of newbies like you show us up, so don’t you worry. Got it? Awright! The advanced party’s gonna bring up the rear. Do a good, solid job, guys. Keep a close eye on what’s behind you, but don’t let the distance between us get too big. The beginner party is at the center of the formation. If we get into a battle up at the front, you’re in charge of providing backup. Don’t let your guard down just because you’re in the middle!!”

  The group mounted their horses, just as Naotsugu had instructed.

  They were planning to cut across the hilly area at the center of the Zantleaf region.

  This’ll probably be a bit of a war, Naotsugu thought to himself, uneasily.

  Zantleaf, surrounded by goblins and sahuagins.

  If that was in fact the case, his dependable friends would take steps to cope with the enemy’s movements. He had his own job to do.

  Naotsugu put his hand on his mount’s neck and started down the road through the forest.

  2

  Go back in time slightly.

  Shiroe had learned of the ominous presence that had begun to blanket the Zantleaf Peninsula when Naotsugu had contacted him, but the Lords’ Council, which was composed of People of the Earth, had received news of the goblin attack even earlier.

  Adventurers were able to use the telechat function to communicate with distant companions instantly, but the People of the Earth also had a means of long-distance communication only they could use.

  It was a long-distance conversation spell that used crystal balls.

  When Elder Tales was a game, the People of the Earth had been non-player characters, known colloquially as NPCs. They’d only been part of the game’s background, and so, unlike the Adventurers, they hadn’t had any combat abilities or convenient functions supported by the game system.

  However, on the other hand, Elder Tales was a story, and in order to render their side of it, it had been stated that the People of the Earth could use various types of magic.

  These included, for example, secret arts used to make magic items, and teleportation spells to allow them to escape from the player-protagonists.

  It had been mere background information, with no kind of in-depth clarification of their abilities whatsoever, but ever since the Catastrophe, in this other world, such information had morphed into a proper system of magic.

  One such type of this magic was a long-distance communication spell that utilized crystal balls.

  In certain instances, this sort of communication technique could be a far more powerful weapon than a band of knights. The lords of the League of Free Cities understood this, and ea
ch kept a dedicated magician in his territory at all times.

  The plundering goblin tribe was traveling through the mountains, and it didn’t invade the fortified cities where the lords lived. The only casualties were unlucky travelers and extremely tiny settlements in the mountains.

  The first one to register the existence of the goblin army was Marquis Kilivar, the governor of Tsukuba. However, since the goblins were marching through the mountains, their discovery was delayed, and he got the message about the time the goblins’ advance units reached Zantleaf.

  The information had been brought to him the previous evening.

  The magician who had been left in charge of the town of Tsukuba during his lord’s absence had decided that this was a state of emergency, and had contacted Marquis Kilivar immediately. After a moment’s hesitation, Marquis Kilivar sounded out Duke Sergiad about convening an extraordinary Lords’ Council. Kilivar’s personal pride as a marquis was a small thing in comparison with this incident, and he sought help from the rest of the lords.

  That was how the People of the Earth’s conference had begun, but naturally, it grew complicated. A terrifyingly large army of goblins… It was an incident serious enough to endanger their respective rules.

  The lords were at their wits’ end, and the conference continued all through the night.

  Why weren’t Krusty and the other Adventurers called to this conference? There were several reasons.

  First, Krusty and the Round Table Council weren’t yet formal members of the Lords’ Council of Eastal.

  Of course they’d determined to hold a decoration ceremony at some point during the conference period and had set a course of accepting them as formal members. However, because each lord hoped to conduct plenty of negotiations beforehand, the award ceremony was scheduled to be held during the last half of the period. Since the ceremony hadn’t yet been held, at present they weren’t formal members.

  Second, some members of the Lords’ Council hadn’t managed to resolve their unease regarding the Round Table Council, and the emotional discomfort remained. A few of them even pointed out, absurdly, that the goblin invasion itself might be an Adventurer conspiracy.