The Knights of Camelot

by Mamare Touno

  Copyright

  Log Horizon, Volume 2

  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 2

  The Knights of Camelot

  ©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 © 2015 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.

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  First Yen On eBook Edition: February 2020

  Originally published in paperback in July 2015 by Yen On.

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  ISBN: 978-1-9753-0985-5

  E3-20200204-JV-NF-ORI

  1

  Rose. Red. Yellow. Orange.

  Three griffins flew above a sunset ocean that seemed littered with broken shards of light.

  Driven by night gathering in the east, the sky was gradually fading to purple, the darkness deepening. However, this only heightened the beauty of the rose-madder evening sun as it receded into the west, trailing long tails of light over the ocean at its feet.

  The young man in silver-gray armor who rode the lead griffin looked back and waved hugely, a cheerful grin on his face. The wave seemed to be a signal.

  At Naotsugu’s gesture, Shiroe told the slender girl who clung to his back to hold on tight.

  At a small tap from Shiroe’s boots, the huge griffin he rode tilted just the tips of its wings—each of which measured three meters—ever so slightly. As the monster sliced through the wind, it sketched a wide arc, setting a course toward land.

  After taking to the skies, the five who’d escaped Susukino—Shiroe, Akatsuki, and Naotsugu, plus Serara, the young Crescent Moon League Druid they’d rescued, and her guardian, the Felinoid Nyanta—had flown straight across the Laiport Strait without stopping and were now approaching the Ou region.

  As indicated by the slowly sinking evening sun, the world would soon be covered in darkness. And even though they were traveling on griffins—flying mounts that ordinary Adventurers didn’t have—Shiroe and the others had wanted to put as much distance between them and Susukino as possible that day, and so they’d continued their journey quite late for a group traveling through the wilderness.

  Setting up camp is considerable work. It takes a fair amount of time to pitch a tent and prepare a meal. Those who have not done so may not realize it, but simply gathering dry branches to build a campfire can take over an hour.

  Since the Catastrophe, Shiroe and the others had learned how to live in the wastelands and forests that spread across this world, and during their journey to Susukino, they had been careful not to push themselves. However, today, the day in which they rescued Serara, they had wanted to cross the strait as quickly as possible and reach an area where there would be no possibility of pursuit.

  The three griffins predicted one another’s courses and descended in gentle arcs, finally alighting together upon a hill.

  “I’m not scared or anything.”

  Akatsuki sounded a bit defensive as Shiroe held out a hand to her, helping her down from the griffin.

  From the way her gaze swam, she actually was feeling timid. That said, she seemed to have grown used to the new experience of flying during the journey.

  What she was just a little afraid of was the griffin itself.

  Griffins were enormous monsters with the upper bodies of eagles and the lower bodies of lions. Fully extended, the span of their powerful wings measured five or six meters. Like their taloned forelegs, their sharp beaks were those of eagles, and since they were so big, to the fine-boned Akatsuki, they probably seemed apt to take off her head with one bite.

  As soon as she touched the ground, Akatsuki quickly backed away. Shiroe smiled—a little smile, so she wouldn’t notice—and took a large chunk of meat from the magic bag he’d shifted to rest at his lower back. He held the meat out to the griffin.

  To all appearances, it really was a terrifying monster. But, like other animals that appeared when summoned by magic whistles, it was the picture of loyalty. As he patted its neck, the griffin happily swallowed the meat in one gulp.

  “So hey, that went well,” Shiroe’s friend Naotsugu said on approach. He had dismounted from the back of his own griffin and was climbing up the hill.

  “It certainly did. Mew handled that quite skillfully.”

  Nyanta and Serara came toward them from the opposite direction.

  “—Um! Thank you very much! I was really impressed.”

  “Yes, well, don’t worry about it. We didn’t do anything special,” Shiroe answered, as Serara bowed her head.

  Even though he thought his words were brusque, he couldn’t think of anything else to say. He felt shy and awkward, and all he could do was avert his eyes.

  Up on the hill, where he could look out over the whole area, Shiroe opened his menu, preparing to report in via telechat to Marielle. She had probably been waiting to hear from them for a long time; as Marielle received Shiroe’s report, her voice was clearly relieved.

  Come to think of it, Shiroe and the others had practically stolen this journey north from Marielle’s group.

  The chaos that had followed the Catastrophe. The gloomy atmosphere in town. Friends divided. Everyone haunted by a feeling of helplessness and uncomprehending irritation.

  Shiroe hadn’t been able to stand that atmosphere. That was why he had undertaken the journey to save Serara.

  Of course it was true that he had wanted to help Marielle and Henrietta of the Crescent Moon League. However, it was equally true that there had been more to it than that: Inside, he had felt an indescribable disgust.

  “Really, don’t worry about it. Just don’t.”

  Shiroe had done this for himself. That was all. It made his words get tangled up, and he ended up making a clumsy report.

  “Mew’ve always been a bashful one, Shiroechi.”

  Nyanta spoke with a serenity that set his listeners at ease.

  “Captain Nyanta.”

  “Shiroe and Nyanta—have you two known each other for a long time?” Serara asked.

  “Yep, they sure have. Me, too.” Naotsugu fielded the question, interrupting from the sidelines.

  “We have, indeed. Long ago, when Elder Tales was still just a game, Shiroechi, Naotsugucchi, and meowrs truly often rampaged around together.”

  …When Elder Tales was still a game.

  Those words san
k into their hearts with a keen sadness.

  He was right. This wasn’t Elder Tales any longer. Ever since the day of the Catastrophe, although it looked like Elder Tales, it had degenerated into a reality dozens of times harsher.

  Possibly because her thoughts had taken her that far, Serara’s face also fell slightly. It troubled Shiroe, but there was nothing he could say to her.

  “My liege, we need to set up camp.”

  Shiroe felt as if Akatsuki had rescued him. He called to the others. Nyanta and Serara must have realized that pessimism wouldn’t do them any good; they actually seemed relieved, and they began looking for a place to pitch the tent.

  The sun was down, but there was no sign of any powerful enemy creatures in the nearby zones.

  Naotsugu and Serara began to pitch a small tent. At this time of year, as long as one had a sleeping bag, spending a night under the stars was no problem at all. If it happened to rain all night, though, things would get annoying.

  Coming to a silent agreement, Akatsuki and Nyanta headed for the forest together. They probably intended to gather dry branches.

  It was inefficient to start setting up camp at this late hour.

  Even though they had magic light, both setting up the tent and gathering kindling took time in the darkness. By the time they dug through the hill country undergrowth, set up several stones as a windbreak, and started a fire, nearly two hours had passed since the griffins’ landing.

  At this rate, they weren’t likely to get enough rest by morning, but even so, the group’s faces were cheerful. After all, they had come through the hardest part of their journey to rescue Serara.

  Since they had crossed so many zones via the griffins, there was very little chance that they would be pursued. They still needed to return to Akiba safely, but since they had already met up with Serara, speed was not nearly as important as it had been when they were on their way to her.

  They could even spend a second night in these hills if they felt they needed to.

  That breathing room showed on everyone’s faces.

  While Nyanta and Akatsuki headed to the forest—which was really more of a series of scrubby thickets—in search of kindling, and Naotsugu went to the river to draw water, Shiroe and Serara skillfully pitched the tent. Although not a magic item, sailcloth tents were essential equipment for adventures. They were quite bulky and heavy, but in a world with magic bags that canceled out the weight of items, it wasn’t hard to carry them around.

  Before pitching the tent, Serara had apparently had a telechat with Marielle, who was waiting for them in Akiba. Shiroe, of course, had completed his own report a little while earlier.

  Marielle always smiled cheerfully, but that didn’t mean she was not worried. Possibly because of the sudden relief, she had actually sounded tearful during his own report.

  But as he sat in front of the tent unpacking their things, Shiroe was able to imagine how happy Serara’s report had made Marielle, just by listening to Serara’s side of the exchange.

  “Hey up there! I got the water!”

  The one making his way up the hill was Naotsugu.

  He had brought up water from the spring in portable waterskins. The sun had set completely, and the jet-black forest was sharply silhouetted against an evening sky clearer than highly polished turquoise. In a short while, Nyanta and Akatsuki would return from the woods.

  At any rate, their mission to rescue Serara from Susukino had been a success.

  2

  “Whoa. What the heck?! This’s awesome!!”

  Naotsugu’s muttered words seemed overcome with emotion.

  A campfire crackled in front of the five, sending up sparks.

  “My liege, my liege. This is, what’s the word…? Paradise.”

  Even Akatsuki—who was normally almost too serious and rarely showed much emotion—raised her voice happily, her flushed cheeks tinted by the orange flames.

  Shiroe nodded in response, but he wasn’t exactly calm, either. He was worked up. It was only that Shiroe, hopelessly clumsy, couldn’t make the excitement show through in his attitude.

  “Mya-ha-ha, there’s lots more where that came from.”

  As if he couldn’t even hear Nyanta’s reassurance, Naotsugu chowed down single-mindedly.

  Fragrant venison roasted, the fat crackling and popping.

  That in itself was a major event.

  It had begun when Nyanta and Akatsuki had brought back a deer they had bagged while gathering firewood.

  Wild animals weren’t rare in this other world. On the contrary: Here, where the population of Japan was only one one-hundredth of what it was in the real world, wild animals had an environment so suited to breeding that it must have seemed like heaven.

  This meant that in forests, hill country, and other lush areas, it was common to see deer and wild birds, as well as boars, mountain goats, and other livestock turned feral. Of course, there were dangerous animals like wild dogs, wolves, and bears as well. Boars and bears in particular had formidable fighting abilities, comparable to goblins, so caution was necessary.

  However, if they avoided those few dangerous animals, deer and wild birds were relatively easy to deal with, and they were useful both as food resources and as perfect practice opponents for low-level Adventurers.

  Thus, it had come as no great surprise when Akatsuki and Nyanta returned from the forest where they had been gathering kindling with a deer in tow.

  Under the perplexed eyes of Shiroe’s group, Nyanta had dressed the deer and, wonder of wonders, produced venison shish kebabs that were shockingly tasty. Even the way they sizzled and crackled over the fire was completely unlike everything that had come before.

  The sweet scent of roasting fat.

  The realization that real food had such a complex, rich aroma was astounding. Shiroe and the others were suddenly so hungry it felt as if they hadn’t eaten for days, and they couldn’t take it anymore.

  With one bite of the slices that Nyanta held out for them, their senses were flooded with the melting sweetness of meat juices flavored with salt and rosemary. This wasn’t a “food item.” It was food. When the difference stared them in the face like this, it was overwhelming.

  They were as different as lightning bugs and lightning.

  “It’s delicious…but…why?”

  Even Shiroe couldn’t help but sound startled.

  Naotsugu and Akatsuki were dumbfounded, too. Only Serara and Nyanta beamed proudly.

  It was the most delicious meal they’d had in a month.

  Part of the sad reality of this other world was—or should have been—the rule that none of the food items tasted like anything. That rule had plagued Shiroe and his friends, and each of the more than thirty thousand Japanese players who’d been trapped here, with the taste of despair.

  Whether they ate omelets or curry, pottage or grilled fish, the food tasted like nothing more than soggy rice crackers. …Worse, actually, since they didn’t even taste very salty. It was so bad that Naotsugu had labeled it “edible cardboard.”

  Over the past few weeks, they had despaired utterly and resigned themselves to the logic of this other world… And now, right before their eyes, that logic was disintegrating.

  As far as cooking went, what Nyanta had made for them wasn’t very complicated, and there was nothing pretentious about it. He’d dressed the deer; flavored it with spices, herbs, and rock salt; sautéed it in a frying pan; and roasted it right over the fire.

  It might not have been first-rate fare, but compared to the soggy, unsalted rice crackers that had darkened their days, the taste was heavenly.

  “Yum! This is fantastic. Captain Nyanta, you’re amazing! I love you second-best, right after panties!!”

  “Oh, mew’re making too much of this.”

  As Nyanta spoke, he threaded the venison onto metal skewers he had taken out of his bag and began to roast them one after another. Serara, who was sitting next to him demurely, knees together, busily set out dish
es and used a small knife to peel an onion for garnish.

  “Captain. Hey! Maestro Nyanta. Why does it taste like this? I mean, why doesn’t it taste like rice crackers?! Requesting-testimony-from-the-defendant city!”

  As he asked his question, Naotsugu had a skewer in each hand.

  “Mew can have as much as mew like. There’s no need to wolf it down like that,” Nyanta told him, but Naotsugu didn’t seem to believe him. It was as if he couldn’t quite relax without gripping what he was planning to eat.

  Ordinarily, it would have been Akatsuki’s job to hit him with a “Greedy, stupid Naotsugu,” but even she was muttering, “Delicious, wow, amazing,” as she munched busily on roast venison.

  As Nyanta dexterously carved the organs, he continued.

  “When mew cook, mew collect all the ingredients, select the dish mew want to make from the menu, and then mew have a finished food item. Correct?”

  What he was describing was the ordinary item creation method in Elder Tales.

  “When mew cook like that, no matter what mew do, the finished food item has that particular flavor. All mew have to do is collect the ingredients and cut, roast, or boil them directly, without opening the menu. Just like in the real world.”

  Nyanta’s explanation was quite casual.

  “But we—”

  Akatsuki gulped down meat. Shiroe handed her a canteen, finishing the sentence for her.

  “We tried that, but even by that method, the end result is just a mystery item. Isn’t it? When we tried to grill fish, it turned into a slimy paste or into weird charcoal that had nothing to do with fish. …It isn’t possible to cook normally in this world, is it?”

  From what he and the others knew, that was simply how things worked here.

  Since this was a game, if one lacked game skills, what they did would fail. It was basic logic.

  “That’s what happens when mew aren’t a Chef, or if mew are a Chef but your cooking skills are poor. As in reality, to cook, mew need cooking skills. In other words, if Chefs cook in the mewsual way, without mewsing the menu, the flavors of the ingredients will shine through in the resulting dish.”