Editing Log Horizon: Ex. Dragonhowl Mountains (section)

===Part 2 of 3===

"Hey~ You. Sleeping in such a place, your stomach will get cold."

Hearing such words... was it a joke, he wondered.

Perhaps his mind has fallen into a delusion, but Leonardo forced his gaze towards the source of the voice.


Right there was a black-haired woman.

Almost by habit, Leonardo checked her status.

The name was かなみ... Kanami.

Class: Monk. Level 90.

She had Asian features and her hair was tied into a thick braid. Her eyes were filled with curiosity and the somewhat amused tilt of her mouth made her look young, but he couldn't determine her age. It was said that Asians looked younger than their Western counterparts.

Thinking about that, Leonardo shook his head.

Back in reality, it was generally true.

In this alternate world, it didn't necessarily apply. However, he knew that she could only be called a pretty woman with a lovely figure. Each and every woman in this world was beautiful, but after exchanging only a few words with the woman in front of him, he could tell that she had a musical voice and an aura that felt like flowers.


"Oi!"

Leonardo tried to introduce himself but instead cried out reflexively.

Wanting to warn her about the Shrine, he noticed that it was too late.

The Shrine's trigger area was the entire ruins.

This woman had already been caught in its grasp.


"What?"

"Ah, oops, sorry. Didn't mean to shout out. I'm Leonardo. I'm an Adventurer from the North American server."

"Hmm. I'm Kanami."

The woman replied, clasping the hand of Leonardo who had stood up.

As their eyes met, he saw that Kanami was about 170cm tall, only 5 centimeters shorter than Leonardo. Leonardo, who was not confident in his own height, was thankful for this.


"Did you come all the way here from North America to take a nap? Impressive."

"Ah. No, that's not it... but, these ruins, how did you get here?"

Leonardo revisited his doubts.

"Hmm? I came here normally by walking, of course."

Leonardo's eyes automatically looked down the street she would have come from.

Leonardo's sharp eyesight noted that at the town's boundary there was only a little shimmering. His expectations in that direction were betrayed.

In other words, the heat elementals would not attack those coming from the outside. Instead they kept the Adventurers inside and eliminated them.

It seemed to be that kind of event.


"There's something I need to tell you. Just, don't take it out on me, don't panic, and don't despair."

"What?"

With her braid swinging back and forth, Kanami stared at Leonardo with wide eyes. Nervously looking back into her mysterious oriental eyes, not wanting to shock a fellow player, Leonardo chose his words carefully.


"Well, these ruins we're in, somehow or other, right now, there's an event going on."

"Event?"

"Ahh... There's a large-scale combat event."

"Ooh!"

Kanami's eyes sparkled as joy spread across her face.

Being rather displeased with the current situation, Leonardo let the tone in his voice drop.

"The situation is hopeless. There's a Shrine in this town. In other words, when you entered, Miss Kanami..."

"Registration happened?"

"Yes. Well, that's how it works."

"So you can't escape through resurrection or using Call of Home?"

"That's right. You catch on quick."

"Yeah, yeah! I get it! I'm all fired up!"

At Kanami's simple-minded response, Leonardo was bewildered.

Did this woman called Kanami really understand the situation?

She seemed to be simply pleased just by the combat event.

Maybe she was a beginner?

In Elder Tales, leveling up was not hard work. At each level range, there were as many good quests to pursue as dishes in an Manchu Han Imperial Feast, so levels would naturally increase.

With the pride of Elder Tales' long history at stake, the disparity between a veteran and a new player was a serious issue. Level differences were an obvious case that prevented players from playing together. With features like the 'Mentoring System', level gaps were quickly closed.

The Elder Tales administration established a policy of "aiding new players in leveling".

In other words, bringing a new player up to the maximum - level 90 - was not a difficult task. The average player used to be able to reach level 90 in less than 100 hours of play time. Now, it was said that reaching level 90 would take less than 80 hours.


On the other hand, it was very difficult to acquire appropriate level 90 equipment. Maxing subclass skills and acquiring high-grade materials took a tremendous amount of time.

Though Kanami's equipment was suitable for a level 90 player, to the point where Leonardo wouldn't call it a disgrace, it bothered him that he couldn't judge her experience from it.


"Don't you get it? Since this town is completely surrounded, there's no way we can escape?"

"Eh? Why?"

With her head tilted and that blank expression on her face, Kanami asked wonderingly.

"Because the large-scale combat... ah! Of course! You're Chinese, right?"

Leonardo was relieved with that realization.

Since his home server was North America, Leonardo couldn't contact his allies, but if Kanami's home server was China, it was very likely that she could contact hers. The post-Catastrophe world was full of confusion and malice, so it was uncertain whether her allies would come to her rescue in this difficult to reach place, but being able to contact them was better than nothing.


This was level 50 content for a Full Raid, or 24 players, but a party of ten level 90 players should be able to stage a breakout.


"What are you saying? I am Japanese. My hometown is Rome. On the European server."

But Kanami's words smashed Leonardo's hopes to pieces. Because the advanced machine translation had completely translated her language, he hadn't noticed.


"Well, then..."

"Hey, instead, tell me, why are you dressed like that?"

In response to Kanami's question, Leonardo shook his head a few times.

"No particular reason. It's a hobby."

Actually, he was quite used to this question.

"That, what is it?"

"It's the Turtle."

Thus, even to the most ill-mannered phrasing of the question, Leonardo countered with the most stylish response imaginable. What's that shape? It's the Turtle. What does it mean? It symbolizes the Turtle. Why does your red mask only cover your eyes? Because it was Ninja.

Why a ninja turtle?

Idiot.

It was chosen because it was cool.


"Hey, you... that's great! That's awesome!"

However, unlike others who would be stunned by his answer, Kanami's reaction was different.

"Hey, that type of headgear is for disguising yourself, right<!--TL:Probably wrong-->? Rather than a turtle, you're a green Umibouzu, aren't you?"

Kanami seemed to be delighted as she cheerfully laughed each time she glanced at his appearance that resembled a humorous comic character. Being laughed at this much should generate an unfortunate mood, but Leonardo, with uncertain feelings, had not yet taken offense.

While his smile crumbled from her comments, there was no insult or jeer in them; instead, it conveyed a feeling of simple interest and joy. Thus, Leonardo's twin swords that had repelled many rude players and PKers that he couldn't stomach were silent for the moment.


"I trust my shape won't be an issue."

"Yeah! Because it's awesome!"

"Leave me alone."

"Hey, hey! Pull out your swords! Show me, show me!"

"I'll cut you up." <!--lit. I'll fillet you into three pieces (?)-->

"Ah, so cool! So cute! I want to pet you~"

Laughing in a cheerful voice, Kanami clung tightly to Leonardo. From Leonardo's green shell armor and assassin tunic came a faint smell of fresh grass.

"Act more properly!"

"Woah, that's a good one!"

"What's 'good'?!"

"Hey, let's go!"

(... What?)


"We're going towards Japan but after all, isn't it very far? It's really boring, you know? So, why not go together? Napping in this spot, your stomach will get cold."

"Why Japan?"

(Ugh,) he wasn't napping here.

Before that, didn't she understand why they couldn't leave this place?

It wasn't possible.

Leonardo settled his thinking that seemed to have reached a conclusion.

'We'. This beautiful woman who was probably the same age as Leonardo had just said 'we'.


"You came here with a party!?"

"Yeah, that's right. Since we're going together, I'll introduce you."

"Ugh, wait, I haven't agreed to go with you yet," Leonardo pointed out with sullen mutterings.


Though they probably hadn't heard Kanami's words, a man and a woman appeared climbing over the debris of the ruins. Of the two, even Leonardo recognized the man as a celebrity.


"Mistress Kanami. The survivor is injured. Hrm... A strange figure, but I can see you're a skilled Adventurer. Nice to meet you."

Displaying a charming smile as he raised the edges of his lips, this beautiful man that inspired a reflexive retort, Elias Hackblade.


"Elias Hackblade..."

"Ah. You recognized me? Thank you, Adventurer-dono."


Rather than bearing suspicions towards Leonardo's strange cosplay, Elias laughed cheerfully and offered a handshake.

Elias Hackblade.

In the world of Elder Tales, one of the few names that were well known on a global scale.

Hero and member of the Knights of the Red Branch, one of the International 13 Orders of Knights which were said to preserve the world's order. Blademancer and blue blooded Ancient.


Ancient. One of the game elements that previously existed within Elder Tales when the world was just an MMO. NPCs, 'Non-Player Characters', in other words, game characters within this world, separate from the players that held a minor role, were nearly all called 'People of the Land'.

Villagers and nobles, clients of Adventurers, victims; all such beings were in most cases 'People of the Land'.

In this reality, they were established to be inferior to Adventurers in many ways.

By repeatedly fighting, a Adventurer would steadily advance and gain levels. In the end, their mighty combat prowess allowed them to face even dragons and giants.

Since even fatal wounds wouldn't kill them, instead returning them to Shrines and resurrecting there, they could only be called immortal existences.


However, People of the Land were not the same.

The level of an overwhelming number of People of the Land never reached double digits, and they would not revive when they died. In the first place, the administration of bank and inns, from a game perspective, did not require levels or combat abilities.

Moreover, beyond the fact that this was a game, the leading role in an adventure belonged to the player, that is, the Adventurer. Adventuring in an alternate world where villagers were stronger than themselves being commonplace, who wouldn't tremble at the thought?

The relative weakness of the People of the Land could be said to be the result of various elements of design. However, having all NPCs completely incapable of combat would be inconvenient for the composition of the game's story, drama and quests.

Of course, worrying over the issue of NPCs stealing the role of Adventurers was putting the cart before the horse, but sometimes a scene called for an NPC capable of fighting beside an Adventurer.

Probably, such circumstances led to the creation of the existences called Ancients.


In other words, Ancients were exceptional NPCs.

Their combat prowess was high, matching and in certain cases exceeding those of Adventurers. They 'starred' in various quests, and sometimes rescued Adventurers or asked for their assistance.


All RPGs were this way; Elder Tales likewise had a breadth of adventures ranging from worthless low level quests to the plots and intrigues of high level countries and areas.

At lower levels, an adventurer would at most defend a village or settlement from a group of wolves or goblins. During this sort of adventure, there was no chance of the Adventurer encountering an Ancient.


However, as levels gradually increased, they showed up to introduce and serve as backdrops for quests dealing with nationwide threats such as invasions by evil forces.


Many Ancients... or rather, nearly all were associated with the International 13 Orders of Knights. Each server had one such order composed of Ancients. Their role was not to be concerned with the politics of countries or regions, but to deal with evil on a global scale within the world of Elder Tales.

For example, on the North American server where Leonardo had adventured for many years was the knightly order called Wen's Keepers, which provided assistance during large-scale combat quests and were the basis of many tales and legends.

As an example, one member of the order went on an investigative journey, and had since been missing. Told to high-level Adventurers by the Wen's Keepers, this story led them through their search for the missing knight to the mystery of a dreadful and ancient secret at the Sedona ruins.


Of course, Ancients were few in number compared to the People of the Land. However, since there was a large chance of meeting them during high level adventures, some Ancients were well-known amongst Adventurers.

These celebrities would spice up long adventures.


And so Elias Hackblade, as Elder Tales' indisputably greatest hero, was a celebrity.

Raised by fairies and trained in unrivaled fairy sword techniques, this hero was introduced in an article on the official site. In the first place, Elias Hackblade appeared on the Elder Tales box art for store purchases.

With chestnut colored hair and chestnut colored eyes, wearing a snow white armored coat with indigo accented lines, wielding the giant two-handed sword Crystal Stream, using the absolutely invincible sword techniques of Fairy Arts, capable of saying what middle school students only dared to think, cutting a cool figure, he was the archetypal hero. <!--Note: May need some additional tense correction.-->