by Mamare Touno
Personally, all she could think was that she could never live with a perfect stranger of the opposite sex, but in her position, she knew she would probably have to.
If they were married, they couldn’t exactly be called “perfect” strangers, but Raynesia seemed not to have realized this.
Incidentally, upon seeing Raynesia’s melancholy look, the young nobles and princesses around her whispered to each other: “How sorrowfully Lady Raynesia sighs…” and “She must be lamenting the future of this world. What purity…”
However, this had completely slipped her mind as well.
Krusty, the other much-discussed character, was also enjoying certain advantages. He was the young leader of the Round Table Council, the largest force among the Adventurers and the current focus of conversation.
In terms of soldiers, they had an army that was about ten thousand strong. Not only that, it was said that each of these soldiers was an elite no knight with lukewarm skills could measure up to. In terms of the knights the lords held, the Round Table Council’s power was equal to several tens of thousands of soldiers. The scale of their economy might not be as large as that of Maihama, the largest territory in Eastal, but there were rumors that they might be nearly equal.
They were an enormous force that had appeared quite suddenly in Eastal, the League of Free Cities.
Even without these elements, when viewed as an individual, Krusty himself attracted quite a lot of attention.
His height was over 190 centimeters, and for a human, he was rather large. That said, he didn’t come off as skinny and gangly. His trained, well-muscled body showed that he was a top-class warrior at first glance.
If he just sat silently, his glasses and intellectual profile made him seem aristocratic, and his sandy-colored hair suited him very well.
Even setting aside the fact that he was an Adventurer, he constantly exuded a charisma that made him the object of the aristocratic ladies’ curiosity and longing.
His heavy, dark gray armor with scattered dark-blue accents—which he had worn at the goodwill match held for young knights the other day—had had scars and scorch marks all over it. That alone had been enough to make the knights who prided themselves on their beautiful armor refrain from fighting him. The experienced warriors who’d asked for a match were now completely infatuated with him.
As a result, in a different way from Raynesia, Krusty was now the focus of attention among the nobles, and being with her made it possible for him to avoid receiving unnecessary invitations or being pulled into troublesome conspiracies. That was what he’d said, at any rate.
Uuu…
Raynesia watched Krusty resentfully. Krusty completely ignored her gaze, but he did raise his head. His eyes were focused on something behind her.
“Princess Raynesia?”
“I do beg your pardon. We didn’t mean to disturb your chat. Um… Would it be all right if we joined you? We’ve brought cookies.”
The two girls were Marquis Lester’s daughter Apretta and Fevel, the granddaughter of the Baron of Iwafune. They were her contemporaries, the girls who’d debuted with her at the ball.
“Yes, of course. …You don’t mind, do you, Sir Krusty?”
Raynesia answered them with a flawless smile. Krusty also smiled amiably and stood, guiding the pair toward chairs composed of graceful curves. She had no idea where he’d learned the gesture, but it was sickeningly perfect.
…Oh, I see. So he does know his etiquette… He knows how to treat ladies. …Hmmm.
Seeming relieved, the two girls offered them cookies and began to talk about trivial things. To Raynesia, being the object of worshipful gazes was the same to her whether said gazes came from knights or princesses, but since they didn’t propose to her, she felt somewhat more at ease around women.
She wasn’t at all able to empathize with their private lives, though. When they spoke of new perfumes and dresses, she couldn’t actually follow the conversation.
She had a vague idea that perfume stank.
The fragrances were too strong.
Well, putting it that way, if left to herself, she would have gone without bathing for a week or so, in which case she would have smelled worse, but in reality, of course, they never left her alone. Her ladies-in-waiting dumped her into the bath every day, and they doused her with perfume.
Dresses—another favorite topic—were, on top of being uncomfortable, either too revealing or over-decorated, and she thought they were terribly hard clothes to do anything in.
Raynesia’s favorites were cotton pajamas.
Thin, soft-textured, flannel pajamas were wonderful. Silk also had a nice feel to it, but it made her a bit nervous somehow. Those were the pajamas of evil.
To be perfectly honest, she would have loved to spend her entire life in her pajamas. If she could get by without ever leaving her futon, so much the better.
“—Don’t you agree, Princess Raynesia?”
Fevel and Apretta were laughing, charmingly. On reflex, Raynesia smiled back. “Yes, truly.”
Upon receiving Raynesia’s agreement, the two girls giggled and whispered together happily. Internally, Raynesia broke out in a cold sweat. She’d agreed because it had been so sudden, but she’d been busy fantasizing, and she didn’t have any idea what they’d been talking about.
“Princess Raynesia is lovely, isn’t she, Master Krusty?”
“Yes, I’m honored.”
At Krusty’s response, the young princesses giggled. Even to Raynesia, the two girls seemed charming. They were completely different from her: They were charming on the inside.
“?”
“However… Princess Raynesia is a very compassionate lady. She spoke as she did out of consideration for me, because I am a newcomer.”
“That isn’t true at all. You are a gallant knight, Master Krusty.”
Uh— Huh?!
Outwardly, Raynesia smiled gently, but she was panicking.
Apparently, in the course of the conversation a little while ago, the two young princesses had complimented Krusty, and that was what she’d agreed with.
Unlike Raynesia, whose ball debut had been delayed by her doting grandfather, if she recalled correctly, these girls were twelve or thirteen. To them, Krusty’s age must make him the sort of knight they idolized. At their age, they could get away with that. That was probably why they’d been able to come to the table, without feeling the diffidence the other princesses felt.
Those two had praised Krusty, and she’d agreed with it—that must have been what had happened.
Please let it have been some sort of harmless compliment!
“Princess Raynesia is keeping me company this way because I am unused to palace customs, and she’s helping me escape being maligned as a country bumpkin. I feel I’m quite unworthy of the honor.”
The smooth tones in which Krusty spoke to the two princesses made his earlier reticence seem like a lie.
H-he’s a bad person! A really bad person!
“My! Then, Master Krusty, we could introduce you to everyone…”
“Or, rather, would you join us in a game of chaturanga over there?”
The two raised startled voices.
“No, Princess Fevel, Princess Apretta. I am a barbarian who knows nothing but the battlefield. Besides, until I’ve repaid Lady Raynesia for the compassion she’s shown me, I must not leave her side.”
Even though it was likely that he just didn’t want to bother dealing with the other nobles, Krusty delivered that line with a very serious, loyal expression. However, the two young princesses misread the words and assumed there was romance behind them. “A knight’s pledge!” they said. “How wonderful…” It made Raynesia’s head hurt.
“It’s perfectly all right, Sir Krusty. Don’t bother with a girl like me. Please, go admire the flowers of the palace. Won’t you?”
Raynesia fixed Krusty with as ladylike a gaze as she could manage, whispering to him. Her words carried the nuance, Isn’t
it about time you found some other place of refuge?
“No. My heart is frayed from battle, and the tranquility around you heals it. If you would, please grant me the opportunity to repay you for the duration of the conference.”
She interpreted Krusty’s words to mean, Let me use that act of yours as a shield for the whole conference. We both benefit, you know.
When the two princesses gave bright shrieks at their exchange and fled, the exhausted Raynesia leaned limply against the sofa.
Nearby, Krusty maintained his usual, peaceful serenity.
To a bystander, they looked like nothing more than a princess, faint from the heat of the gathering, and her faithful knight, quietly watching over her.
4
“Haah… Hah…”
Breathing raggedly, Touya drained the contents of his canteen.
Serara, who’d seen this out of the corner of her eye, asked, “Are you all right?”
Minori’s party had entered a small burial chamber on the right-hand route of Forest Ragranda. The floor was littered with the bones of countless Skeletons.
They’d just gotten through a battle in the corridor, disposed of the reinforcements, and barricaded themselves in the burial chamber, managing to survive the melee.
They all looked near exhaustion.
In this other world, their physical strength was reinforced to a great degree by their status. The fact that a mere middle-school girl like Minori was managing to hike through the mountains and explore dungeons all day was proof.
However, mental fatigue was a different matter. Fighting long battles wore away their concentration, and the more bewildering the combat situation, the worse the strain on their nerves. Even Minori had been suffering from a rather bad headache for a little while now.
Come to think of it, I haven’t had any water since this morning…
Her throat didn’t feel dry, but she took a swallow from her canteen anyway. If she let dehydration dull her thoughts, she’d lose everything.
This situation isn’t good…
Minori looked at each of the party members.
Touya sat huddled, hugging his sword. His breathing seemed to be calming down, little by little, but he’d had a rough time during the recent battle. He’d shed a lot of blood, and there’d been a moment when his HP had dropped to 30 percent of the maximum. He’d been hit with a lot of bad status effects, and at some points his recovery hadn’t been able to keep up. It must have hurt.
She thought it had to be his emotional strength that had made him camp near the door even now, when he was completely drained, securing the position that would make him the monsters’ first target if another battle began.
Serara was still out of breath, but she’d begun rummaging through her bag anyway. Minori guessed she was adjusting the positions of the potions in her pack in preparation for the next battle.
It sounded funny that she and Serara, the Healers, relied on potions, but even negative-status cancellation spells had recast times. Minori’s was Great Purification Prayer, and its recast time was twenty seconds. In other words, if she insisted on using Great Purification Prayer and nothing else, she’d only be able to cancel one bad status every twenty seconds.
For example, if all party members had been poisoned, in simple terms, it would be eighty seconds before she could recover the last member. In order to get the team by without that loss, Serara seemed to think it would be best to cancel her own poisoned status with a potion.
I see. That’s really neat. I’ll bring some next time, too.
Minori made a mental note.
Still, that did mean that Serara, a Healer whose level was higher than her own, didn’t have an effective way to handle the current situation. Potions were no more than a drop in the bucket.
Rundelhaus had his eyes squeezed shut.
The position reminded Minori of something: He probably had his status screen open and was staring at his remaining MP.
They’d been fighting battle after battle for a while now, and Minori’s MP had also been driven down to 25 percent. Since they were resting, her MP was recovering at a steady pace. If they waited ten minutes, it was likely that she’d have recovered 70 or 80 percent of her MP and would be able to fight again.
However, Rundelhaus had paid out spells in rapid succession, and he’d used far more magic than Minori. If Minori had kept an accurate eye on his status, Rundelhaus was completely draining his MP in every battle. To him, waiting patiently afterward to recover might even be part of his efforts to annihilate the enemy.
Over the past two days, Minori had heard Rundelhaus mutter “Why…?” countless times. He probably meant, “Why is it this hard?” “Why can’t we win?” and he probably also meant, “Why am I this weak?”
It was likely his pride that made him mutter that way.
She understood. Minori was like that herself.
“Why…?” I know exactly what he’s feeling. Even the things I did well when I was alone don’t go well here. We’re limiting each others’ strengths. Something’s going…really wrong.
If she let those words out… If she swallowed them back…
She thought Rundelhaus wasn’t just a thoughtless, pampered rich kid. It was his responsibility to crush the enemy, and he was very serious about it. In fact, on that point, he hadn’t compromised at all.
Probably… Rundelhaus is… It’s hard to see it, but I think he’s fighting for keeps.
Isuzu was silent.
Minori was a bit worried about her. Isuzu was usually cheerful, and even a bit of a chatterbox. She was very sensitive to the surrounding mood, and she probably couldn’t be lively in a situation like this, but Minori was worried that in itself might crush her.
I guess… I’m the same way…
She knew they’d made some mistake, and that it had landed them in an extremely bad situation. Minori was aware that she probably understood this better than anyone.
This was one of the “crises” that Shiroe had spoken of so often.
But… Even so…
Minori shut her mouth tightly. Their current circumstances certainly were critical. They matched several of the cases Shiroe had warned her about.
“Why are we this weak?”
It was Rundelhaus who’d spoken; he seemed to have gotten his wind back.
He hadn’t spoken loudly, but his voice echoed strongly in the silent burial chamber.
“……”
Serara bit her lip, looking down. Isuzu couldn’t raise her head.
“I’m level 24. The enemy’s levels are between 17 and 21. In that case, why are the battles this hard? It shouldn’t be like this, should it?”
That’s…
It was probably because they weren’t using their full power. That was what Minori thought. Or maybe they were being divided so that they couldn’t use their full power.
…Of course, the undead didn’t have that sort of intelligence. High-level undead would have been different, but undead like the Skeletons and Zombies they’d met up to this point didn’t have enough sense of self or tactical intelligence.
In a manner of speaking, Minori’s group was limiting their own potential.
However, she couldn’t say that.
After all, Minori’s level was 21. She had the lowest level in the party, and she was the one who was holding them back. Then, too, the one with the highest level—29—was her brother, Touya.
Since Minori had the least power of anyone in the group, if she said this, it would sound as if she was making excuses. If Touya said it, it would inevitably sound as if he was defending Minori.
Besides, although she knew they weren’t managing to exercise their full strength, even Minori didn’t know how to overcome the problem.
“……”
“Will we just have to…keep training…?”
Rundelhaus’s words sounded as if even he didn’t believe them. They sounded that way to everyone else, too.
However, no one could say it,
and Minori and the others only kept silent.
5
In the dark courtyard, the cool sound of water played.
Even though it was late at night, abundant water flowed smoothly from the fountain in the center of the courtyard. The water ran through beautifully carved channels, sending up spray whenever it traveled down one of the calculated steps.
The people who had designed the Ancient Court of Eternal Ice had apparently taken solid precautions against the heat of summer. To begin with, built as it was on pillars of Eternal Ice that raised it to a height of fifteen meters, the humidity in the palace was less than at ground level, and the temperature was cooler.
It wasn’t clear what sort of technology had been used, but waterways like the ones in the courtyard ran all through the palace, circulating cool, clear water from the upper floors to the lower ones, as gravity dictated.
As a result, although it was August, the night air in the palace was pleasant, and almost chilly.
In this cool courtyard, a girl was silently practicing martial arts, all alone. There was nothing violent about her movements, but an observer who knew what they were looking for could have seen the extents of her efforts and knowledge through the gestures’ dexterity and crisp definition.
With every move she made, her long, black hair swayed in the wind. Her body—wrapped in plain, shadow-colored clothes—was small, and she still didn’t have much of a figure, but her delicate, girlish curves made her silhouette quite attractive all the same.
It was Akatsuki, Log Horizon’s girl Assassin.
Lead right, slide left. One beat… Lead left, feint right, half-turn… One beat.
The girl was running through an odd practice form.
In karate and old martial arts, although footwork is considered important, moving the upper body along with it is emphasized as well. This is the same across nearly all martial arts. However, the girl kept her arms gently curved and stationary in front of her chest, and she seemed to be training with a focus on footwork.