Tiger Echo Fist!
Bastard!
There are too many for me to aggro!
West Wind girl!
How long until you can recast your AoE skill?
I'm Kawara! And about twenty more seconds!
What about you, Shigeru?
Not much different.
For a PUG, our teamwork's not bad.
But...
There are just too many.
We need to hold out until the new kids reach the safe zone!
Yeah, or we won't be able to face the master!
They just keep coming...
This is the sixth encounter. What the hell is going on?
The encounter rate for goblins in this area shouldn't be this high.
Return of the Goblin King
Return of the Goblin King.
Everyone's in quite a hurry, my lord.
What?
The goblins?
An army of at least a few thousand goblins
is on the move just beyond the next ridge.
That many?
Any news from the group at the coast?
I can't reach Marielle or Shouryuu.
That was stupid of me...
I didn't add the rest to my Friend List.
Nor did I.
I can't reach the other members of the Black Sword Knights, either.
This is bad...
What did that goblin army look like?
The ones I saw in the valley were a major raiding force.
I've never seen an army that size.
I also saw hobgoblins, trolls, and even demon beasts.
They seemed to be heading west-southwest.
I couldn't tell you any more.
So the groups we fought must have been scouts, right?
A huge army on the march...
Over that mountain?
We have the whole Crescent Moon Alliance on our Friend Lists...
Don't we?
Yeah.
Can you contact them and ask what's happening?
I'll let Shiro know first.
All right.
Keep me informed.
Right, I'm on it!
My lord?
A mass of blue goblins from the coast?
Sahuagin?
Those monsters live farther south...
What's going on?
Maybe it's a coincidence?
You think so?
So all the adventurers at the coast are heading back to the school.
What should we do, Naotsugu?
If it comes down to it, we could all use a return spell to go back...
If we do that, it'll take us several days to come back here, to Zantleaf.
Then that's our last resort.
Marie's in charge of the camp.
We'll meet up with her.
Here it is.
Do it.
Thank you for responding to my sudden call, everyone.
This is Shiroe, of Log Horizon.
As the Round Table members are currently separated from one another,
I've taken the irregular step of convening a telepathic conference.
I realize it's a bit bothersome,
but I've designated one person in each of your locations to be a relay,
so we can have this conversation in as near to real time as possible.
In the future, I plan to further develop this network.
First, to brief everyone on the situation...
This morning, on the Zantleaf Peninsula,
attacks by multiple races of demi-humans were confirmed.
At the coasts, a minimum of several hundred sahuagin.
In the forest, a huge raiding force primarily composed of goblins.
There are at least
ten thousand.
Ten thousand?
I believe there to be even more.
Shiro, do you have any idea...
...what the reason for this invasion is?
I believe the driving force behind this invasion
is the "Goblin King's Return."
The "Goblin King's Return"?
In the game, that event occurred regularly.
Yes.
The goblin castle, Seventh Fall, lies deep within the forests of the Ouu territory.
Twice a year, the Goblin King is crowned there.
Before that happens, players are given a week to slay him.
If they defeat the king before the coronation, they can acquire rare items.
Since these items were very powerful,
and it was an easy event for regular players,
it was one of the game's most popular events.
The chief of the area's most powerful clan becomes the Goblin King.
In other words, by attacking goblin bases around the Ouu area,
you could weaken them, thus weakening the Goblin King.
And that event had an element
that was nearly forgotten because it almost never happened.
As I recall, if you failed to defeat the Goblin King during that week,
the king was crowned.
This unified the surrounding clans,
making the goblins several times more numerous than they'd previously been.
Come to think of it...
I remember that.
Yeah.
Then that's it...
Since the Apocalypse,
we've been so busy trying to make this world livable for ourselves...
And we've been so preoccupied with raising our levels,
we haven't taken any quests from the People of the Land.
So this is the result...
Does that mean the goblins are at their full strength, Shiro?
We should assume the Goblin King, his guards,
and his armies are stronger than we've ever seen them.
My bigger concern is how large the six clans that were united are.
The ones at the camp couldn't do it,
but if the Akihabara adventurers banded together,
we could wipe them out.
The problem is the Eastal lords.
Unfortunately, they aren't strong enough to handle them.
As if I care!
They haven't asked us for help.
When this was a game, there was that overpowered army.
Um, it was...
The Knights of Izumo.
Yeah...
Heroes born from the People of the Land.
Stronger even than adventurers...
The ultimate weapon of the humanoid races.
There are said to be thirteen bands of knights around the world.
They've always been involved in battles that determined the world's fate.
The Knights of Izumo are something like guardians of the Yamato Islands.
We can rest easy, then.
But as of now, no one is sure if they really exist.
Eh?
You get your news quickly.
Either way, a large battle is unavoidable.
At least some people will die.
We can come back to life, but the People of the Land...
My lord...
Princess? Princess?
Princess Lenessia?
He's not here today, is he?
Crusty.
Why?
Lately, you've been breakfasting together frequently.
I would expect him to show up around this time...
Father?
Lenessia, remain calm and listen to me.
A huge goblin army is approaching Maihama.
Ten thousand of them.
Ten thousand?
In a few days, they're likely to number several times that.
It's the worst disaster imaginable.
There are thirty thousand people in Maihama.
At most, there are two thousand guards!
I'm returning to Maihama immediately.
Then I'll go with you.
No, you will remain in the palace.
Huh?
My father will, as well.
Grandfather?
This reaches beyond our city of Maihama.
All the lords must come together at this conference.
As high lord, my father has to remain here, at the palace.
And you want me to help him?
Yes.
Father...
Okay, everyone's here.
Why don't we have curry tonight? Curry!
Okay?
Marie!
Naotsugu...
Marielle!
Oh, Serara, you're safe.
I'm so glad.
You're still a little kid.
But...
I'm sorry, Naotsugu.
For what happened...
What are you talking about?
It wasn't your fault.
If anything, every adventurer is responsible for this disaster.
Yeah, but...
It isn't like you to overthink things.
Leave it to Shiro. He'll handle it.
He'll come up with a way out of this, even if it means cheating a little.
She smiled.
It's getting cold.
You should change.
That's right.
Oh! Give me a second!
Meow.
I'm back!
Put out the fire!
What's happening?
Over there.
Torches...
A goblin army?
Yup.
Someone, bring me a map!
Gobs Fish
How does it look?
This is a bit of a problem...
What?
Well, not so much for us, perhaps...
You don't need to sugarcoat it.
Out with it, Mr. Retiree.
It looks like the goblins intend to attack the town of Choushi.
Fish
Gobs
Of course, that isn't the giant army I saw this afternoon.
It's a medium-sized division.
The main force is way up north...
Attack?
That's a raiding force.
In other words, they plan to take food from the town of Choushi.
Choushi has no walls...
You're right.
If we leave them, they won't last until morning.
We can't return to Akihabara without doing anything!
We should go to Choushi.
That's right.
I don't know what we can do, but it's better than staying here.
Don't be crazy!
Isuzu?
This isn't training...
We don't even know how strong they are!
I'm well aware of that, Miss Isuzu.
But the people in the town don't even know the goblins are coming.
You want us to do nothing, even knowing all this?
Let's leave this stuff to the adults, okay?
Are you saying we're kids?!
That's not it...
We've already grown plenty strong.
Stop it, guys.
I agree with Rundel Haus.
Though, I don't think it's about how much stronger we are...
Minori...
Please let us go to Choushi!
No matter how big their army is, their numbers don't pose much threat.
With our fifteen hundred, we could destroy them.
During that last conference, Isaac said that we haven't been asked to,
so we have no reason to help...
If he's going to do it, he needs a reason.
That's true.
Shiro didn't seem like himself, either...
Normally, he'd make a quick decision.
Just in case, I've asked Soujirou to join us here.
If the palace is attacked, he'll help.
All the representatives of the nobles are here.
We can't leave it undefended.
The West Wind Brigade is small but powerful.
They won't alarm the nobles.
That's a good choice.
The nobles haven't said anything, though...
I'm sure they're talking on their own.
Without us?
I don't like that!
Then should we go to them, strategist?
Before that, there's something I need to tell you all.
What is it?
It's about death in this world.
If we die, we revive at the Cathedral.
If we pay an EXP penalty, our bodies come back.
That's how it was in Elder Tale,
so we made the mistake of believing it would be the same here.
From the information I've gained,
death carries risks in this world.
I'll spare you the details,
but it seems that each death steals a small portion of your memories.
What?!
Our memories?
How much do we lose?
I don't know.
Which memories do we lose?
I don't know.
What are you saying, then?!
I don't know!
Not yet, anyway.
But judging from the hypotheses I've gathered, it seems to be true.
I understand.
So, that's why I'm missing some of my memories.
I'm convinced.
D.D.D. is a combat guild.
Before the restoration of Akihabara,
we underwent difficult combat training to adapt to this world's fighting.
I died a few times, too.
Normally, I wouldn't think about it,
but it does seem that some memories were lost.
Th-Then...
That's horrible.
Which memories, exactly?
How many of them?
I couldn't say for certain,
but it seems most of them were memories of the world I came from.
I've died twice since the Apocalypse.
It's hard to say exactly which memories are missing.
Because you forget that you forgot, you see.
My memory is better than that of most,
but I can't recall the name or appearance of the cat I'm sure I once had.
This is likely due to my deaths.
However, while I can only speak for myself,
a few deaths don't seem to be enough to cause any real inconvenience.
Even a few dozen would be unlikely to cause any difficulty in your life.
But even so... You lose your memories of the old world, right?
That's harsh.
Well, it's not something to fret over.
You simply need to avoid dying.
And failing to act, for fear of the risk,
is no different than a living death.
No matter what world you're in.
The risk is too great!
What? Why?
If you fear risk, how can you be an adventurer?
Calm down, everyone.
The lords' conference will hash out the details.
Acting on our own right now isn't a good idea.
Especially with the new kids here.
This will affect relations between the adventurers and People of the Land
for a long time to come.
And we have no ostensible reason to save them.
When you consider the big picture,
acting based on emotion isn't wise.
Yeah, that's about it.
Enough of this. I'll go on my own.
Wait! You can't go alone!
But...
We're a party, right?
If we aren't all in this together, but we go, we'll just get hurt.
Like we did at the start.
But if something isn't done...
Then, make us the advance party to Choushi.
An advance party?
A brilliant idea, Miss Minori.
We can at least help them evacuate.
No... Saying that was the only way to get them to agree.
Which means...
I think we should protect that city.
Why?
No one's asked us to.
No one will reward us.
It doesn't have anything to do with us.
And I don't want to die.
There are many reasons not to help them.
But there isn't any reason we can't, right?
That's true, but...
Hey, look!
No...
We're too late?
Goblins did this.
Is anyone here?
Tohya!
I'll assist you, Mister Tohya!
Flash Needle!
Head Splitter!
Do you need a reason?
Is helping them without one wrong?
If you want to help someone, isn't that enough?
We're adventurers.
That's right.
If we run away, then I don't know why we became adventurers.
We can't just boldly march home to Akihabara without saving the town.
But how are we supposed to protect them?!
That town has no walls, and there are so many!
Fighting spirit.
We're back to that again?
Put some thought into it!
I am thinking!
There is a way.
You're right.
With our numbers, protecting Choushi from the goblins is impossible.
And even if we could, it's pointless if other places are razed like this.
That's why
we don't protect them.
M-Miss Minori, what do you mean?!
Minori's right.
We came to make sure you young kids weren't getting yourselves into trouble.
Nyanta!
Master Naotsugu!
Um... Please give us permission.
Adventurers are free. They don't need permission.
If you've thought for yourself and reached your own decision,
you have the freedom to see that decision through.
However, Minori, it won't be easy.
Chief! Master!
It's a man's job to be quiet and let us go!
Minori's had an idea!
Understood.
At least let us hear it first...
Minori's idea.
Sure.
We drop the idea of protecting the town.
Instead, we seize the initiative.
We attack the goblins.
Minori and the rest begin their battle against the goblin army.
They have no reason but to protect others.
That is the freedom of an adventurer.
But freedom requires resolve.
When a girl breaks out of her shell and makes her decision,
her body will rise into the sky.
A Lazy, Cowardly Princess
Next time: A Lazy, Cowardly Princess.
Always look thirty seconds ahead.