A/N: An interlude-only chapter to tide you over until arc 3. Everything here is canon.

~oOo~

Log Horizon © Mamare Touno

This work provided under section 107 of the copyright act of 1978

Chapter 19

~oOo~

Interlude: a Tangential Perspective

~oOo~

Her husband had always been a late riser, but Chigusa considered herself to be something of an early bird.

Setting the soup to slowly simmer, she skillfully manipulated her cooking implements to make two, perfect, sunny side up eggs. The rice she reheated from yesterday, not seeing any reason to make her job harder.

Her husband stumbled out of the bedroom wearing a worn, green bathrobe. Yawning and bleary-eyed, he gently kneeled in front of the kotatsu, mumbling a greeting to her.

Chigusa chuckled a little under her breath, knowing he wouldn't be fully awake for another twenty minutes or so. He was so cute when he was like this, too! It brought her back the early days of their marriage, preparing breakfast for her hungover salaryman husband.

Of course, her nagging had finally had some effect, and he'd cut down on the drinking almost a decade back.

Now, they were retirees, content to enjoy their peaceful lives.

She gave him a quick peck on the cheek as she set down his portion, and he mumbled a quiet thank you under his breath.

If she hadn't been married to him for decades, it would be easy to draw the conclusion that he was a lazy layabout all the time.

Of course, she had been married for all that time, and knew he'd be energetic and bright-eyed in time for his volunteer duties to the neighborhood library.

The hardest part of retiring was finding something to fill up all the newfound time, and her husband had chosen to give back the community they'd lived in.

Chigusa? She wrote.

Poetry, some well-researched (if she said so herself) historical fiction, and even (under an assumed name, of course) a rather niche piece of web fiction targeted towards the high-school demographic.

None of it had been traditionally published, but in her twilight years, she'd grown invested in leaving behind a body of work that would outlast her.

And in response to her chance meeting with the little girl turned transdimensional ambassador, she'd decided to try something a little different- a book concerning current events.

She'd been there from the very beginning. It was only fitting that she saw it through to the end.

Finishing up her breakfast, her husband still more-or-less insensate, she stood up. Bending over, she cleared their plates and cups from the table.

Though instead of immediately starting to wash them, she went back to the table and took out her phone.

Her son's weekly phone call happened today.

The phone started ringing seven thirty on the dot.

Chigusa didn't know where her son's punctuality came from (certainly not from her!) but appreciated it all the same.

"Hello, mother."

Chigusa smiled. Long since a man in his own right, but still a mama's boy. It warmed her heart.

A bit too formal, but not everyone was perfect.

"What's up, homeboy?"

She held the phone away and snickered, covering the receiver. She could visualize him cringing clear as day.

"More seriously, how are you doing? Is there anything you'd like to talk about?"

"Ahh, very well. I would regale you with tales of my activities, as is our regular practice, but much has happened in the past week that I wish to discuss, so it is somewhat difficult to choose merely one topic."

Translation: "I'm thinking." Chigusa snorted. She would have to take the lead, as usual.

"We've been good, too. I decided on a new topic to write about, and your father's been organizing an event for the library. Oh, and I met the most darling girl a few days ago, lost in the middle of the road. Things worked out, though, since she got reunited with her father."

"I see. I have had a productive week as well; quite recently, I represented my company at a trade show, wherein I cultivated potential business contacts. From a recreational perspective, I have completed reading 'Quicksand.'"

Chigusa rolled her eyes at her husband, who was marginally more awake with coffee in him. On one hand, she had always been glad that her son had inherited her (and her husband's) love for reading. But all the books he'd read about the warring states period in his youth had left an indelible mark on how he spoke.

"In addition, I would like to speak concerning the... 'Adventurer' situation. What are your opinions on it?"

"Well, obviously, I'm glad they'll be reunited with their families, even if it takes a while."

The phone went quiet except for the omnipresent background hiss as Chigusa waited for her son to elaborate on what was bothering him.

"... While I am of course in agreement with the notion that Adventurers reuniting with their families would be optimal, I must admit I have some concerns regarding their willingness to use violence."

"Oh?"

"On seeing the news coverage of their engagement with 'genius,' I was unpleasantly surprised at how much damage they did to the area. Shops will be closed for months as the roads and storefronts are repaired, but none of the Adventurers have stepped up to pay for the damage incurred, or even to apologize to those who owned the shops."

Letting just a little bit of frost into her voice, Chigusa replied. "They risked their lives to defend us against that monster. We don't ask firemen to pay for houses burned down by fire, even if they cause water damage to the property."

"I agree that they are justly lauded as heroes. However, they have repeatedly confirmed that they are now immortal. While, of course, they suffer penalties on death, it would be merely a matter of time for them to regain any lost abilities, so logically speaking their cost of dying could be calculated as the worth of their time multiplied by the time spent re-acquiring their skills. So perhaps they could have been at least a little more careful with their surroundings."

Chigusa frowned and briefly shook her head, despite knowing her son couldn't see her. She supposed cynicism was the logical end result of becoming an economist… But for her, whenever she thought of that sweet little girl she'd met dying, her stomach turned. The idea that she should die merely to prevent property damage felt like a punch in the gut, even if Chigusa knew that she'd be revived later.

In a reprimanding tone, she said, "That's a horrible way to think. If they hadn't taken care of that monster, who knows how many would have died? It was an emergency situation, and they had better things to focus on than not cracking a little bit of unimportant concrete."

Her son sighed. "I suppose you are right. We should speak of happier topics instead."

And so they did, but Chigusa knew that he was still harboring his concerns, and a stern talking-to wouldn't solve them. And she knew that other people, across the country and world, would have identical concerns.

Handing the phone to her husband, she felt uncharacteristically depressed at that, though. She dearly hoped fear wouldn't prevent the successful re-integration of the adventurers.

~oOo~

Interlude: Negotiations

~oOo~

Roe2 lounged across her plush, velvet covered seat. She spun idly, rotating perhaps a quarter turn each time before reversing direction. The room was dimly lit, with only the moon and stars providing illumination.

That had been a requirement of hers, one that Roderick had grudgingly allowed. Negotiations would go better if she was ill at ease, but at this point, Roe2 held all the cards, and thus dictated where and when they met.

Roderick's elbows sat on the table. In combination with his clasped hands and mirrored glasses, most of his facial features were obscured, a look tailored to be intimidating.

He didn't have a clue whether Roe2 was affected, but for all that she was a dimension hopping alien, she at least looked human. Well, humanoid. The fangs and pointed ears were something of a giveaway.

Roe2 dropped her hand from her ear, indicating her telepathic call was over.

"Sorry for the delay, I had to confirm some last-minute details with my compatriots."

Roderick nodded. "Shall we begin negotiations, then?"

"Of course. Now, I'll be blunt. I'm kind of fond of a few people, but humans in general, I don't really care about. I'm mostly concerned with my own species. But hey- we don't dislike you guys either, and I think we could work together pretty well."

Roderick smirked internally. She had a soft spot for humans and they both knew it.

"And 'working together' constitutes…?"

"Well, we have some technology you don't have, you have a population that dwarfs ours.."

"So you're saying that we have the labor, and you have the capital."

"Mmhm."

"And you're proposing a trade."

"Exactly."

"Of what?"

"Well, to begin with, we know you've been looking at ways to improve the efficiency of the portal generators."

Roe2 smiled, and Roderick felt the hairs on his arms rise. She didn't mean...?

"More specifically, you've been looking into how to create a power sink, to reclaim some of that energy bleed off you've had such problems with."

Shiroe had brought the idea up in a serious manner literally that day. How in the world had she found out? No, that wasn't important. Roderic focused his energies back on the negotiation process.

"And you could provide assistance with that?"

"That's a bit of a tough question, isn't it? Could we provide assistance? You've been pretty cagey with your information so far."

Dammit, he'd risen to her bait. It had been an educated guess, not something she'd known for sure. But if Roderick was correct, she'd inadvertently tipped her hand as well. She didn't want labor from this transaction, even though the human population was still of interest to her. There was a simple conclusion to draw then.

"We could provide information, but I'm not sure we could provide them the empathiom you'd ask in return for your help."

Roe2's face went blank. After a few seconds, however, her aloof expression cracked. She chuckled. "Heh. well played. I suppose we've both established what we want, then."

Roderick snorted, already feeling a little exhausted. All that tension, just to get the barest feeling for what the other side wanted.

"Indeed, we have. What sort of information are you willing to sell us?"

"Ah, well, this would be more of a collaborative effort. I'll give you a freebie, for your time."

That certainly piqued Roderick's interest.

"Mana is… well, to say "fascinating" is a bit of an understatement. It's the closest thing we've found to empathiom, without actually being empathiom. It seems to generate itself ex nihilo and can create interdimensional rifts. But it's still not quite the same thing. We, that is, the Fools, would like to study it, but our infrastructure is a little inadequate."

Roderick considered her words. Roe2 wanted two things, fundamentally speaking. Information, and Empathiom. He could provide the first, but how could he provide the second?

"So, then, how about a little tit-for-tat? We'd both have the same goal, that is, finding out about mana. Simply collaborating on the project sounds fair."

Roe2 shook her head, smirking. "You lead a mercantile guild, Roderick. You know your economics. You need this information a lot more than we do."

Left unsaid was the implication that he was willing to pay through the nose for it.

Roe2 made direct eye contact. "So as such, I think I'll ask that you also provide us, let's say, forty slots to earth over the next three months."

Roderick flinched. "Forty slots? Are you crazy?"

Of course, he was acting. Practically the cardinal rule of negotiations was to ask for more than what you wanted. But by showing a visible response, opposing negotiators revised their estimate of how much someone was willing to pay. Well, opposing human negotiators, anyways. It wouldn't do to forget Roe2 wasn't.

"Four-zero. Forty, yes." Roe2's pushed her glasses up, her smile growing predatory. Roderick's spine tingled at the resemblance to Shiroe.

But, then again, it wouldn't do to forget Roe2 wasn't human.

Roderick snorted. "I'm calling your bluff. You need empathiom, and you need it badly. The more efficiently we can connect to earth, the faster you can get to earth and start collecting empathiom from there. Collaboration on the project would be more than enough payment for your information."

Roe2's smile changed into a look of chagrin, and then bemusement.

"Now, that's a little unfair. But I'll tell you what, I'll sweeten the pot." Roe2 took a breath, watching Roderick's reaction. "We know why overskills work the way they do, and we can predict how to make new ones."

Once again, Roderick's information was piqued. Still, he tried to keep his face passive.

"I don't believe you."

Roe2 had to know he was fishing for information, but now Roderick held the majority of the cards.

"Aww, you don't trust me? That's disappointing. But I suppose I can give you one more freebie, so listen up."

Roderick motioned with his hand. "Well, don't stand on ceremony."

Roe2 rolled her eyes. "In our travels, we've discovered a few fundamental laws of the cosmos. The ones relevant to this discussion are the laws of 'providence horizon' and 'contradiction' respectively. The first guarantees that two sapient species can't exist in a universe. The second enforces the first."

"But-"

"Yeah, yeah. Theldesia is a massive, glaring contradiction to the first law. And now, so is earth. But it looks like the law of contradiction is alive and kicking. The scale of geography changing? Male adventurers in female bodies growing girlier? Magic working on earth? All of these are because of the law of contradiction. It takes contradictions in how magic, or physics work between the two worlds, and resolves that contradiction."

"So, for example, the contradiction between food cooking with fire, and food only being created via a menu action?"

Roe2 nodded. "Exactly. And because we've been studying these laws for eons, us Fools have a pretty good idea of how they work in practice. So we can predict, to an extent, how an overskill will work, even without directly performing it."

"So you're proposing to trade that knowledge."

"Hah! You wish. You couldn't open enough portal spots for that deal to work. But we could maybe give you, say, consultation services on two overskills for twenty slots in the next three months."

"That's highway robbery! We could just test any conceivable overskill for cheaper than that, instead of relying on your fancy analytics…"

And so, with both sides having laid out what they were willing to trade, negotiations began in earnest.

~oOo~

Interlude: Plane Flight

~oOo~

There was a special sort of boredom native to extended, transcontinental flights. The anemic flow of chilled air from AC nozzles, the dull roar of the engines, and occasional flight attendant padding across the softly-glowing aisles contributed to a peculiar combination of stupor and nausea that kept Michael at the nausea inducing tipping point of being awake and going to sleep.

In retrospect, eating that airline pasta had been a bad idea.

And to think- he'd actually been excited at the idea of his first ever plane ride.

It had been fun for the first hour, sure: first class and a window seat was a pretty nice introduction to the wonderful world of aerodynamic sardine cans.

But now, with nothing but featureless ocean beneath him, Michael decided airplanes were a particular kind of hell designed for boys who misbehaved and got into fights with gangsters.

By now, he was so bored he willingly read the tepid, uninteresting writing the in-flight magazines held, targeted at jet-setting businessmen who traveled from continent to continent and the rich who took regular vacations to exotic locales.

He decided he didn't envy those poor bastards. This sucked. He closed the magazine, finally fed up with yet another article about expensive cuisine and how you hadn't really lived until you'd dropped three grand on obscure Italian wine to pair with your fair trade, no cruelty foie gras.

His laptop was available, fully charged and ready for use. But it was the principle of the thing that prevented Michael from grabbing it and turning it on. Going halfway across the world and doing the exact same thing he always did felt, at least a little bit, like a waste.

And practicing his monk abilities was out. It had taken the form of a politely-worded suggestion, but Michael had heard enough horror stories about anti-terrorism measures to bend over backward and accommodate the TSA official who asked him not to "use that goddarn adventurer hocus-pocus."

Instead, Michael tried people-watching. It wasn't a hobby he normally partook in, but when needs must…

His parents were asleep, sprawled out on the reclining chairs of first class.

The same held for much of the flight, and people in all directions were covered in the cheap, thin airline blankets. Michael had long since lost his in the folds of his chair and wasn't all too interested in contorting himself to find it again.

The glow of screens illuminated the majority of the passengers who remained awake. While the light was useful, Michael quickly grew tired of trying to judge their looks from the side profiles of their faces.

The lavatory flushed, a distinctive noise Michael could hear even from his seat. After a pause, the sliding door clanked open. Michael idly looked towards the person leaving it- a balding man with a t-shirt, a faded logo on its front.

He looked back to the screen embedded in the front of his chair, considering whether to turn it on. Then he did a double take.

It was a little difficult to make out with most of the aircraft's lights turned out, but the man clearly has an "Elder Tale" shirt on.

To Michael's surprise, he sat in the seat in front of and to the right of Michael's.

With the width of the first class chairs, it wasn't exactly a surprise that Michael hadn't noticed him, but he still found himself curious.

What Michael had learned about Elder Tale had come from dry spreadsheets and wiki pages. Long-dead forum conversations about outdated patches and the occasional youtube video. The opportunity to talk to a veteran of Elder Tale was tantalizing.

That didn't overcome Michael's natural reluctance to talk to some random stranger, especially on an airplane, of course. So he gave in and pulled out his laptop.

The airplane wifi was what could be considered "passable" this late in the night, so at least that was a plus. Streaming content was out of the question, so Michael pulled up an ebook to read.

A few chapters in, Michael noticed a greenish glow coming from the Elder Tale player's seat.

He was ready to dismiss it, but then remembered Faraday experimenting with a spell called "Bug's light."

It was a bit of an invasion of the man's privacy, but Michael leaned around to look through the gaps in the seat, curious.

The eerie green light came from the inside of a thin, brass ring. The talisman had five beads, each of which were attached to feathers. It sat on the man's palm, its circumference large enough to touch his thumb and index finger simultaneously, as the feathers lay limply off the sides of his hand.

Huh.

Despite Michael's public statement, magic was still fairly rare. Finding an appropriate object to use as the nucleus of choosing an occupation was surprisingly difficult, as they had to have some sort of history involved. It didn't make much sense, but not much about this entire situation did.

"How did you figure it out?"

The man started, the feathers of the talisman shaking. The spell went out. He enveloped the ring in his hand, as he turned around to face Michael. He had his mouth open, but didn't say anything, he closed it, pursing his lips and creasing his forehead.

Opening his mouth again, he said, "Wait, you're that superhero kid, right?"

Michael sucked in his lips, annoyed. He had done one fight in a costume, and the media wanted to call him a superhero. It wasn't even really a costume! His brother had always been the cosplayer of the family, that stupid weeaboo.

"I guess, yeah."

"Huh." Let me just-" The man reoriented himself, unbuckling the seatbelt across his lap. Once situated, he said, "I'm Robert. Michael, right?"

"Yeah. You are, I mean, were an Elder Tale player, right?"

A wry smile appeared on Robert's face. "No, actually. Well, not really. I did QA for a few years, but to be honest I never really got into playing it."

"Wait, you were a developer for Elder Tale?"

"For a certain value of 'developer', I suppose."

"Didn't most of the company get caught up in the Disappearance?"

The man sighed and rubbed his eyes with his right hand, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose in the process. "Yeah. It was patch day, right? Elder Tale isn't like most games- we only make a major patch about once a year, so we tend to have something of a company-wide LAN party when it happens. They also conveniently tend to double as a way to start working on patch-day hotfixes."

"But you weren't present?"

"Well, I was, but you've gotta understand- when you do QA, playing the game you work on feels kind of like chore, to be honest. I knew a lot of guys in my department who still had fun despite that, but I mostly played single-player RTS games in my free time. So during the launch, I was out buying pizza for the office instead of playing." Robert chuckled. "I was pretty surprised, walking into the office to find nobody around and half-full Doritos bags everywhere. Thought they were playing some sort of weird practical joke on me."

"Huh." Michael chewed over that for a moment.

Robert took the chance to ask his own question. "By the way, what were you thinking, going out dressed like a Ninja Turtle to fight crime?"

Michael rolled his eyes. "Honestly, I wasn't. Not thinking, I mean, it wasn't that I was thinking, I mean- dammit, I'm getting tongue tied." Robert snorted, and Michael took a breath, trying to get rid of the fog sleepiness put over his thought processes. "I didn't go out 'dressing like a ninja turtle.' It's just that my hoodie is green, the first bandana I found was orange, and my name is Michael. My brother is the crazy one, what I did was just an accident."

"Suuure. And what about the crime fighting, then?"

"Also an accident. I was just running laps around my neighborhood, trying to earn a subclass, when I saw some dude getting mugged."

"So you intervened because you believe in truth, justice, and the American way?"

"Sure, why not." They shared a smile. "So what are you going to Japan for? Vacation?" Michael asked.

"Mostly, yeah. Though I'm also bringing across something for the Adventurers."

"Really? What?"

"Four three-ring binders with fairy ring transport data."

"Fairy rings? Those are for intercontinental transport, right? I heard that they're the reason my brother was on the Chinese server."

"Not just intercontinental travel, but that's a big part, sure. So he is your brother, then?"

"Yeah. I heard the Adventurers can't really use fairy rings because they can't predict their destinations. Are you planning to trade the information?"

"Nope, I'm just going to hand it off to them, or if necessary, get some Japanese official to do it for me."

"Really? You're not going to try and get something in return? I heard that they had transformation potions."

"That's flattering."

Michael's eyes widened. "Ah, shit, that came out wrong, I'm sorry!" Robert waved him off, laughing quietly. "I just mean, there's just- there are people who'd pay a lot of money for stuff from Elder Tale."

Robert shrugged. "Well, sure, but I think they need this stuff now rather than later, and trying to negotiate for it just wastes the limited time their ambassador can spend here."

"So you're just doing this out of, what, the goodness of your heart?"

"Ehh, I don't think I'm really a good enough person for that. I just feel kind of responsible for what happened, to be honest, maybe this'll make me feel better, or something. I don't know. Just gotta do what I can, right?"

~oOo~

Interlude: Raw Capitalism

~oOo~

"Wait, they make Dakimakuras of Soujiro? Why did nobody tell me!"

"Cuz ya didn't ask."

Fragrant Olive held her hands clasped together in front of her, a pleading expression on her face.

"Please, please, please tell me where I can get one!"

The green-haired elf practically bounced in place.

Behind her, Isami tried to pretend she wasn't listening, although the fact that she'd stopped practicing her Katas kind of gave her away.

And in her peripheral vision, Nazuna could see that Sara had stopped sweeping. So it looked like Soujirou's charm had gotten to her too, huh? Though Nazuna had to wonder who had taught her what a dakimakura was. Or more accurately, Nazuna had to wonder why Kurinon had thought she could get away with corrupting the poor maid.

Nazuna would have put Kurinon on her 'to-discipline' list, but Kurinon was always on there for some reason or another anyways.

She was good people, but the West Wind Brigade's solitary lesbian wholly deserved her reputation for troublemaking.

"Mmmh... Nah."

"But Nazunaa~!"

"Still no."

"I bet you have one, why can't I? You're just abusing your power!"

She did and she was, Nazuna had to admit internally. Heck, why not just say it out loud?

"I do and and I am. Deal with it."

Fragrant Olive squawked in outrage, as Nazuna smirked.

"Just you wait, Nazuna, I'll overthrow your reign of terror and have Soujirou all to myself!"

"Hey Isami!"

Isami flinched as Nazuna called her out, a slight blush on her face.

"Who would you support in a coup, me or Olive?"

The tip of Isami's sword lowered as she answered Nazuna.

"Um, Soujirou left you in charge, so you, I guess."

Nazuna held her palms up on each side of her face as she tilted her head. With her smug grin, if expressions could speak, hers would say "welp," popping the 'p' in as insouciant a manner as possible.

Fragrant Olive struck a pose, pointing her finger dramatically towards Nazuna.

"I'll get you one day, mark my words!"

Beating a hasty retreat, she almost ran into Dolce holding a plate of cookies.

Dolce watched Olive's retreating figure, before turning his attention to Nazuna.

"You know, dear, you really should cut down on the drinking. It makes you a bit, ah, tyrannical."

Nazuna pouted a little, scooting her sake bottle behind her back.

"Aw, just let me have this. I can't go on any raids right now, while Soujirou has all the fun."

Dolce gave her a flat look.

"I get it, I get it. Heh, you're a real mother hen, you know that?"

Dolce smiled. "I try. Though, if I may make a suggestion," and here, Dolce leaned conspiratorially towards Nazuna, "have Michitaka ramp production of those pillows up. As soon as trade becomes feasible, we'll have a lot of demand on our hands."

~oOo~

Interlude: A Nightmare

~oOo~

Nureha woke up.

She did her best not to wheeze, not to cry out.

She held one hand clenched over her chest, planting the other one firmly on the asphalt.

The dream was already fading.

Images of an empty, filthy, home, the backs of her uncaring classmates.

The usual.

By now, Nureha was inured to these dreams. Mostly, anyways.

She squashed her reflex to call Indicus. She always responded. She always knew what to say. She cared about what Nureha did, even if for maybe not-so-altruistic reasons.

But she couldn't talk to Nureha, and even KR wasn't inhabiting his summon right now.

So Nureha used her power to hide her baggy eyes. She set her phone on a tripod, and shooed KR's summon out of the way.

These videos drove traffic to Plant Hwyaden's website, and that in turn lead to more potential guildmates.

And maybe, just maybe, she could recruit enough people to fulfil her ultimate goal.

To never again be alone.

~oOo~

A/N: The "Law of Contradiction" and "Law of Providence Horizon" are canon, although I don't believe anime watchers got to learn about them. Everything else is fan speculation, though.