Log Horizon - Volume 10 - Chapter 1.5

5 
“Camaysar, the Genius of Marriage…?” 
Shiroe repeated the name Soujirou had said. 
He’d never heard it before. A vast number of enemies had appeared in Elder Tales since the time when it had been a game, and even Shiroe didn’t know all of them. 
Still, at the very least, he remembered the names of most of the major enemies who’d appeared on the Japanese server. Setting aside the foreign-sounding name Camaysar, it was hard to believe he would have forgotten a moniker as distinctive as “the Genius of Marriage.” 
“Yes, that was what he called himself.” 
“That wasn’t ‘marriage’ so much as ‘marriage fraud.’” 
Nazuna picked up where Soujirou had left off. 
Tatami flooring, paper sliding doors, and an example of beautiful cursive characters hanging in the alcove. 
Shiroe and Akatsuki were in the traditional Japanese room in the guild house of the West Wind Brigade, one of Akiba’s leading combat guilds. Soujirou, its guild master, and Nazuna, his right-hand woman, had come out to meet them. 
The two of them were Shiroe’s old, familiar companions from the Debauchery Tea Party. 
Shiroe’s daily routine was built around tables and chairs, and it was a little hard for him to relax in such a traditional space. Meanwhile, Akatsuki seemed used to rooms like this one, and she’d started on the tea refreshments that had been set out for them. Akatsuki’s room at Log Horizon had been set up traditionally as well, like this one but smaller. Kneeling formally didn’t seem to bother her at all. 
“He was a strange enemy, just as you said, Mr. Shiro.” 
“I’m surprised you ran into one, Soujirou.” 
“Really? I thought you were expecting it.” 
“‘Expecting’ isn’t really the word; I did think that, if I talked to everyone, I might get information about encounters with enemies like him, but…” 
Shiroe and Akatsuki had visited the West Wind Brigade because Soujirou had wanted to talk to them. When he’d brought up the subject over a telechat, Shiroe had been at a place where he could talk right away, so he’d gone over. When he’d run into Akatsuki in the living room and told her he was going to the West Wind for a bit, she’d ended up going with him. 
Shiroe had asked Soujirou about “odd, unfamiliar monsters”: changes in enemies that had appeared after the Catastrophe or the existence of unique enemies. Shiroe had begun gathering information in order to learn about them in detail, and just as he was getting started, he’d hit the jackpot. 
The information Soujirou and Nazuna gave him was just as he’d thought it might be—or rather, it was beyond what he’d imagined. 
“I hear other people have reported encounters, too. It doesn’t sound like it was the same guy, though.” 
“You haven’t changed a bit, Nazuna.” 
“Well, yeah. We’ve got a girls’ information network here, after all. We’re pretty awesome with things like that. Keh-heh-heh.” 
As a matter of fact, Shiroe already had information about the monsters known as Geniuses. 
He’d only just learned that that was what they were called, but reports that new strains of monsters had been discovered on the Yamato Server weren’t actually all that unusual. 
Most of them had been rash assumptions on the part of the Adventurers, who’d lost their external strategy sites. Yet, when he’d gone over those reports carefully, there had been some that definitely seemed to be not mistakes or false memories, but actual new strains. 
After the Catastrophe, as time passed, these eyewitness reports had continued to increase. 
This wasn’t simply a case of information he hadn’t known belatedly coming to light. It was as if the number of cases was growing over time. 
He didn’t think all these new monsters were Geniuses, but according to Soujirou and Nazuna, people besides the West Wind Brigade had apparently encountered them as well. 
From what the pair said, Camaysar, the Genius of Marriage, had been able to disguise itself as a Person of the Earth and bewitch the opposite sex. 
It had taken the form of a young Person of the Earth merchant, infiltrated the town of Akiba, which had lost its urban defense mechanisms, won a variety of female Adventurers over to its side, and temporarily had influence that made it impossible to ignore. 
Some of the West Wind Brigade members who belonged to Soujirou’s Personal Guard had gotten suspicious and had subjugated the enemy. 
“They’re as reckless as ever, aren’t they?” 
“We’re a guild with high morals, see. If anybody messes with our girls, we show ’em no mercy.” 
“She’s right, my liege.” 
For some reason, Akatsuki nodded in agreement with Nazuna’s words, as if she was proud of them. 
“Did you help them, too, Akatsuki?” 
“No, this is the first I’ve heard of it.” 
In that case, Shiroe didn’t understand why she’d nodded so cheerfully. 
Watching Shiroe out of the corner of her eye, Nazuna puffed out her chest, and Akatsuki nodded away, her eyes full of respect. He glanced at Soujirou, sending a distress signal. “What’s this about?” 
The response he got back was an amiable one: “Apparently, they’ve become friends. Girls make friends quickly when they eat sweets together.” 
Soujirou’s the only one who could say things that totally carefree, Shiroe thought. 
Fortunately, his memory was pretty good, and he hadn’t forgotten the tragedy at the Libra Festival… In other words, what had happened to him and his two companions when they’d “eaten sweets together” at the Danceteria cake buffet. In the end, he and Soujirou were men of different calibers. 
Shiroe resolved not to delve too deeply into this particular issue. 
Letting her eyes fall to the sheaf of papers in her hand, Nazuna continued, “At this point, the ones we’ve heard of are Sislau, the Genius of Pestilence; Zahun, the Genius of Scandal; Baglis, the Genius of Measures; and…” 
“And the one we defeated, Camaysar, the Genius of Marriage.” 
“That’s about the size of it.” 
The sheaf of papers seemed to be a hastily drafted report. 
“We’ve put together detailed notes about all this, but…what the heck are these things, Shiro?” 

Nazuna lowered her voice. 
The words she’d muttered softly had been “Something smells fishy.” That was probably her intuition talking. She looked like she was crude, slipshod, a big drinker, and a slacker, but her instincts were sharp. Those instincts had saved Shiroe during their Tea Party days, and they’d tormented him ten times as often as they’d rescued him. 
That said, it was hard to know how to respond. 
It would have been easy to explain them away as new monsters that had been added with Homesteading the Noosphere, but he couldn’t believe that was the truth. Even so, Shiroe didn’t currently have any way to corroborate the information he’d learned. He had a hunch it couldn’t be corroborated at all. 
“……” 
“They’re enemies, right, Mr. Shiro?” 
For that reason, he didn’t have a ready answer for Soujirou. 
He thought they were enemies. He was almost certain they would block his way and the Adventurers’ future. However, he wasn’t convinced they were “enemies” in the literal sense of the word. No, more than that, he suspected they might not be enemies at all, in the way that a fallen tree that blocked the road was an obstacle, but not an enemy. 
“They attack us, so we have to fight them.” 
As a result, Shiroe phrased his answer so that it neither affirmed nor denied what Soujirou had said. 
Nevertheless, Soujirou seemed to be satisfied with that. 
With a big, relieved smile, he murmured, “Oh, good. We already defeated him anyway.” 
Oh, I see, Shiroe thought. He hadn’t been demanding an explanation from Shiroe so much as worrying about an opponent they’d already defeated. 
Soujirou was a younger player, and for some reason, he seemed to idolize Shiroe. He’d always seemed to like him. In the past, they’d often formed parties together and gone around to different dungeons, in addition to Tea Party activities. Soujirou and Shiroe had often teamed up with Naotsugu and Kazuhiko when they went to have fun, and at the time, Saki and Soujirou’s other fans had been jealous of Shiroe. 
Soujirou’s a kind kid. 
“They’re different from regular monsters, though, somehow.” 
“Maybe the Catastrophe affected them, too? Or was it Homesteading the Noosphere?” 
Soujirou and Nazuna continued to shoot questions at Shiroe, who’d gotten lost in his thoughts. 
Truly, they were both quick on the uptake. Even if they didn’t know much about the situation, they’d come very close to hitting the nail on the head through intuition alone. 
“It’s both.” 
“…Huhn.” 
Nazuna didn’t probe Shiroe’s answer any further. She had standards for advancing or retreating that he didn’t understand, and there were lines she wouldn’t cross. It was probably because she was older than Shiroe. 
“Is there anything we can do, Mr. Shiro?” 
In response to Soujirou’s question, Shiroe said, “I’d like a little more information. That, and time.” 
“So basically, you want us to defend the town,” Nazuna said, as sharp as ever, and he nodded emphatically. 
“Ah. I see. In other words, just keep doing what we’ve been doing, right? You can count on us.” 
Soujirou gave an easygoing smile. 
His relaxed, good-natured expression made Shiroe feel relieved, but he also thought, I mustn’t lean on him too much. 
He remembered the platform of old Akiba Station, with its flitting spark-bugs. 
When Shiroe had told him he wanted his help to establish the Round Table Council, Soujirou had agreed without even asking why. 
Soujirou was quick to do so, but that didn’t mean the determination and the vow that lay beneath that agreement weren’t serious. It was also true that having Soujirou’s support had enabled him to launch the Round Table Council. When the Crescent Moon League had first released their Crescent Burgers, the West Wind Brigade had been the ones to protect them from criticism and pressure. Shiroe had only learned that afterward. Talk about a strategist with a poor endgame. He’d been saved from start to finish, and the fact brought a stinging warmth to his heart. 
“Well, just you leave it to us. We’ve gotten pretty tough, y’know.” 
“Yes, let us handle it, Mr. Shiro.” 
“Count on us, my liege.” 
For some reason, Akatsuki gave him her assurance along with the other team. It was funny, and Shiroe chuckled. Catching it from him, Soujirou cracked up, too. 
“Yeesh, Souji. What?” 
“It’s nothing… Girls are strong, aren’t they, Mr. Shiro?” 
Well, yes, they’re strong. They’re probably too strong, he thought, standing up. 
As Shiroe said his good-byes, grimacing at the tingling in his legs, Soujirou murmured something quietly. 
“He was a strange enemy, Mr. Shiro.” 
He probably meant the Genius. 
Soujirou’s eyebrows came together, as if he was retracing his memories. “I don’t know how to put it. He was the most Elder Tales–like thing I’ve seen since coming to this world.” 
“Like Elder Tales…?” 
“Yes. Of course I’d never seen him before, and his attacks were odd, and he was strong, but…” 
“Yeah, exactly. Way more so than the People of the Earth, I guess you’d say.” 
“It was like a game. The enemy felt hollow, as if we’d defeated an Elder Tales monster.” 
Soujirou’s words were always intuitive. Since he had the ability to reach the right answer in a single leap, he was bad at explaining how he’d gotten there in ways that were easy to understand. 
Even so, Shiroe engraved those words in his heart. 
There was bound to be something in them that he needed to understand.