Disclaimer: The Mai-Hime/Mai-Otome characters belong to Sunrise. The rest belongs to Touno Mamare-Sensei (Log Horizon).

Enjoy.


Catastrophe Part 1

The Beginning of A New World

A tree stump a few meters tall was there, just as she had guessed. She went around that stump and made a turn at the two-story building. It was right where she remembered it to be.

Green moss had spread throughout the land. The asphalt, once ubiquitous, appeared infrequently here and there. Kruger dashed through the ruins. The buildings stood in close succession, coild and sometimes pierced by giant, ancient trees.

She was running this past scenery that she hadn't seen before, yet it still felt somewhat familiar to her.

There were silhouettes of people curled up in the streets.

These were likely Adventurers in the same situation as Kruger. Their moans and screams made Kruger forcibly suppress the fear that gradually rose up her throat.

But she was barely putting up a show.

"What's happening?"

"I-I'm strange, what's this!?"

"What the hell is happening!? Hey, get the Game Master! Are you listening, you Landers!?"

A panicked gamer threatened an NPC, who was also as clueless as him. The Landers or People of the Land are the main NPC, Non Playable Character, in this world.

"Ah, I-I..."

Their screams sounded like dying animals.

Those excessively miserable screams brought back a tiny amount of composure in Kruger. To not scream like that was the sole thought keeping her going.

(I can move my body as I like... It's uncomfortable because the length of my limbs seem to be slightly different... Thankfully not too much...)

What spread before her eyes was the city of Akiba.

Many abandoned buildings were intertwined with ivy, reaching out vigorously from the asphalt here and there. The vines blended with the ancient, spriti-blessed trees. Nostalgia washed over her. This is the hometown of many Japanese gamers, the largest city of the Japanese server of Elder Tales.

"Akiba? Ridiculous! Am I going crazy!? Someone, someone, answer me!"

A man cowering nearby shouted. Everyone was dressed as a citizen of a Middle-Ages fantasy world, wearing full-length clothing or even armor.

That was normal.

Elder Tales is the world's largest MMORPG with a theme based on a world of swords and magic. After 20 years, it has earned itself a dedicated millions of players with 13 servers across all continents. On the Japanese server alone, there are about 100,000 active players who have created some 1,200,000 unique characters.

It was originally an American MMORPG created by Atharva Inc. Each of its 13 worldwide servers has a local company running the game, coming up with their own special events, classes, and subclasses. In the Japanese server, the Samurai and Kannagi are special classes, only available here. To assimilate with the local gamer culture, companies tried to change 1 or 2 original classes with special classes only available in that particular server.

The world of Elder Tales is based on the Half Gaia Project, a half-scale model of planet Earth. The only difference with Eart is the post-apocalyptic setting. With countless customization from 8 Races and 12 Classes, not to mention the Subclasses, it is no wonder that Elder Tales becomes so successful.

But then, it was 'just a game.'

The wind brushing Kruger's cheeks was cold, moist and refreshing, like she was in the middle of a thick forest.

The air was different from the dry and somewhat prickly air in Fuuka where Natsuki lived. The wind, twisted with the smell of greenery, told her that this place wasn't the world she was familiar with.

Kruger shook her head and thought back.

She was in front of her monitor, waiting for the new 12th expansion, Novasphere's Pioneers, to finish installing. The new world-wide release expansion would bring new items, new zones, new monsters and battles; and, above else, raise the level cap from 90 to 100.

Kruger didn't have a sound way of investigating how many players would sit in front of their monitor waiting for the new expansion to finish installing, but new expansion packs always bring a lot of gamers online. That is why companies make them. More players means more money. And, more players need more expansion packs.

She checked her Friend List and many of the icons say 'Online.'

(Juliet! Nao is also involved in this!?)

After clicking 'Juliet' and choosing 'Call', a dialing sound rang in her head.

"Kr-Natsuki!? Is that you?"

"Nao! Where are you? Let's meet up!"

"Hmm... Underneath the Silverleaf Tree?"

(I guess she's also not sure about this... Fantasy...)

"Got it! I'm on my way!"


Kruger is a veteran players with 8 years of Elder Tales gaming experience.

She has been playing since she was in middle school when the real world became too unbearable. Elder Tales is where she would run to when everything feels too much for her littleself to handle.

The last memory that she had, was of her being approached by 2 new players after the expansion pack finished installing and she managed to login.

But after that, her memory was abruptly cut.

Kruger remembered seeing some sort of demo. Words of shining flames in a black scene. The sky was filled with sticky darkness like asphalt scrolling quickly and a white moon that cut out that blackness.

And, that was it.

Now, Kruger is running in Akiba as her own pair of legs that had turned real kicking off the ground.

(I hope Shiz- Ah, Viola would be okay too. Well, she would probably be busy considering how many pets she got.)

Suddenly, a ding sound, signaling an incoming telepathy ring in her head. It was a familiar rhythmic sound like that of a xylophone being played before.

Kruger concentrated on her forehead in a way like she was squinting her eyes and selected a menu that appeared in her mind. After suddenly being transported into this fantasy world and letting go of the panic she felt at first, Kruger quickly picked up these controls.

(Viola?)

A relief flooded her chest.

"Shi-Viola?"

"Kru-Natsuki?"

"I'm here. Are you alright?"

"Y-yes. I'm with Armitage and Chrysant. We're going to gather our guild members and start from there."

"Ah, your pet- I mean your loyal Drei Klauen. Yes, that seems to be the best course of action at this point."

"A-are you... W-Would you like to come too?"

(Shizuru... Worrywart as usual...)

A small smile slowly starts to appear on Kruger's handsome Hal-Alv face.

"I'll be fine, Shizuru. I'm going to meet up with Juliet."

"I see."

(That was cold. What did I do?)

"Y-yes. S-So, maybe I'll stop by at your place later?"

"Ara... I suppose that will do for now. However, I shall expect My Natsuki to be prepare for a punishment because she is seeing Juliet-han first before she even think of seeing me in this romantic fantasy world."

"Sigh... It's not like that. This is the first time Na-Juliet login in two years. I'm just worried."

"Ara! So, Kruger-han is not worried about weak old me?"

"O-Of course I do! I was just thinking about you before you call- Ah! Nothing! Besides, you have a whole army at your command! And, you're not old!"

(Really, why is my face hot even when I am a game character in a fantasy world... Baka Shizuru...)

"Ara~ I understand~ I will see you later at 6PM sharp then, Na-Tsu-Ki~ Mwah!"

"Oi! It's Kruger! Don't use my real na-!"

The line was cut off before she could finished her sentence.

(Really! That insatiable woman!)

Shizuru Fujino.

She was an untouchable existence to Natsuki before, like a bright star on the night sky.

If Shizuru was a popular and bright person, Natsuki was the opposite. She was a loner and the outcast of society.

A student council president at the high school Natsuki was enrolled in.

People said that her family came from a long line of nobles from the Heian era.

Natsuki never thought that such a high class princess would be similar to her, preferring to spend her time in front of a monitor.

Kruger had joined Viola's party, helping them with a full scale raid before.

Through voice chat, both realized that they went to the same school.

How could you not, when there was only one girl with a very distinct kyoto-ben at school.

After that, Viola had been harassing Kruger to join her guild.

Kruger could never understood why Viola would keep on asking her and never give up doing that.

At first, she thought that Viola is someone to be wary of.

But overtime, she came to enjoy her persistence effort because Viola always say, "I just like being with you. Is that a wrong reason for asking you to join?"

Kruger could not answer that because she liked the feeling of someone thinking of her so highly like that. But, liking is different from accepting it.


While Kruger was busy cursing Viola, another ring came inside her head.

"You here yet, Mutt?"

"I'm almost there!"

Kruger listened to the voice of her old friend as she made another right turn at an abandoned building on the verge of collapse.

The clear sound of her cutting through the top of the trees and a humid smell were carried by the gentle breeze. And then, there was the dazzling light.

This brightness was something once couldn't experience, unless one witnessed it in early summer. Under the cool winds, instead of bringing heat, the sun rays simply burst with white radiance. A pure, overwhelming intensity of light.

The city was illuminated by the light of early summer. The ancient giant trees and buildings cast deep black shadows on the main streets covered in black soil and asphalt. The contrast was beautiful.

The scene that was spreading out before Kruger's eyes was something she had seen countless, countless times: the hometown of the game world, the city of Akiba.

However, that scene had an overwhelming sense of realism that was impossible for a game and it was enveloping Kruger completely.

Kruger was sprinting in this scenery with her very own legs.

Every step she took, she felt the slipperiness of wet moss crushed by her sole. She felt her heart strongly pumping her blood to every nook and cranny of her body, which was heating up from the exercise.

This was something she couldn't doubt; this was reality.

The city was, indeed as Kruger remembered it, the city of Akiba.

The crumbling ruins, the repeatedly extending Barrack bars, and the old trees spreading their roots on the roads were all swallowed by a green forest as they coexisted. This was the game setting of the holy ground of the ancients. This is Akiba.

Withing the League of Freedom Towns Eastal, the eastern of crescent-shaped moon archipelago, Yamato, Akiba is the hometown of the players and the core city of the Japanese server in Elder Tales.

She ran through the center of the street and made a turn at a corner of a three-story inn-and-bar.

The crumbling ruins were buildings made of concrete: Suftek, Yashikayama Electronics, Kulta Tower, etc. Various buildings and famous landmarks gave the impression of the real world's Akibahara, and they were reconstructed as ruins of an older era in Elder Tales.

The legacies of the old era were sleeping here and there in this world. They could be giant underground ruins or towers that pierced the skies. This city of Akiba was a legacy itself.

As if clinging on, buildings made of logs were extending the giant concrete structures that were on the verge of becoming rubble, and all of that was embraced within the bosom of the ancient trees. The scenery was miraculous.

After Kruger arrived, Juliet, who was sitting on concrete debris, stood up and waved her hand at her.

The lights shone in from holes without window frames in the wall, illuminating the two of them better than any game engine could have managed.

Juliet looked pale, but she still laughed heartily and slapped her sheath.

She was around 5' 3" tall, wearing dull but remarkably strong steel armor over her body. Juliet had a shield on her back and looked like an ancient heroic valkyrie in her get-up.

"Kruger!"

"Juliet! It's been a while!"

Elder Tales had a standard voice chat system; players were able to communicate while playing the game by using speakers or headsets with microphone, like chatting through skype or webcam. Some players didn't like to use voice chat and insisted on text messages, but Kruger and Juliet preferred the hands-on communication because it was faster.

That was why Kruger remembered and was very familiar with Juliet-Nao's voice.

Nao Yuuki.

If anyone asked Kruger who was the most reliable person in the game, she would be among the first few choices that came to mind.

Kruger had played Elder Tales for many years, so she knew quite a lot of people in the game. But the people you knew in the game remained in the game. Different people might have different playing styles and opinions, but most people would not reveal their real identity in the game world.

But this doesn't meant that you couldn't make real friends.

Juliet knew Kruger's real name, meaning they have met offline as well.

They might have met in person before, but they had spent much more time conversing through the game screen. Juliet spent countless nights with Kruger in the Debauchery Tea Party, visiting countless zones, experiencing countless battles together.

For Kruger, this cheerful and reliable voice was the symbol of Juliet.

"What's with this situation? Did Elder Tales evolve to this level and become some sort of VRMMORPG while I wasn't playing? To be honest, this is too real for me... This isn't possible with just improving the level of particle effects and rendering machines right? Is this a joke?"

Juliet pouted as she asked Kruger. Her cheerful and chatty voice sounded a bit depressed.

"This is nerve wrecking."

Kruger vaguely nodded and raised her magic staff in her hand.

(Come on, this a magic staff, a real magic staff!?)

This is a commonly seen item in fantasy games. It was made by grinding and bending a long and slender tree branch, and reinforcing it with metal. Just like a magic staff used by magicians.

They only place you could find this is in cosplay stores.

She probably noticed Kruger's silent reproach.

Juliet bent her head to check herself out. She was wearing steel armor that seemed to weigh dozens of kilograms, with a shield on her back and a sword with an elegant hilt on her waist. Juliet looked like a typical warrior in a fantasy setting.

"Eh, I look like a cosplayer myself."

"Yeah..."

Even though they were not sounds of joy, the two of them looked at each other and laughed.

"Now that you mention it, you... Look the same."

"You too."

The two of them observed each other's appearance.

Kruger and Juliet were basically game avatars in Elder Tales. The avatars in the game were originally constructed using 3D models, hardly looked real at all. But the two of them existed for real in this world, in which everything was as detailed as reality.

But if you looked closely, this was not turning the game into reality. As a game, the characters of Elder Tales were designed for both males and females.

Since it was a monthly subscription pay-to-pay game, there were very few players who intentionally chose ugly appearances. To meet the demand of the players, the company create beautiful 3D model according to Japanese beauty standard.

But Juliet was not just turning her stylish avatar in Elder Tales into reality. Kruger had seen her in real life several times, and she looked exactly like she remembered.

"Juliet, your face looks very similar to your real face. Mischievous and Slutty."

With the scar that ran through her left eye of her avatar gone, Juliet's face revealed her own bright lime green eyes with pointy corners. Her adult face had a small cherry nose and rosy lips to match.

"You too, Kruger, a serious beady eyes and pointy dog like nose."

"So? What is the current situation? Tell me if you know anything, Ice Princess."

"I would like to tell you, but I don't know anything."

Kruger sounded frustrated by her helplessness. If Juliet wasn't there, she would have been screaming like those panicked people before. She and Juliet kicked away the shattered debris and sat down.

Compared to the suburban area Kruger woke up in, this was closer to the center of Akiba. If you listened carefully, you could hear the despair scream of the urbanites from here.

"First, this is not a dream."

"Yeah."

Kruger nodded and agreed to Juliet's inquiry.

When she regained consciousness, she was in a familiar place... That is not supposed to exist in the real world. Which seemed like the game she was playing.

The body that Natsuki was controlling like her own was a character she controlled in the game, 'Kruger'. But the appearance of this avatar seemed to reflect the real face of Natsuki Kuga.

"Have you seen the status screen?"

"I have."

Since Elder Tales was a game, the strength, stamina and all sorts of abilities were represented in the form of numbers. All sorts of commands in the game were input through the menu.

There were no such game-related screens anywhere you looked in this world. If you focused on your forehead, the world would present a translucent status screen displaying all sorts of values and graphs. By controlling the curson with your mind, you could perform all sorts of action. Both of them realized this about half an hour after waking up.

They also discover the telepathy function, which functions similarly to voice chat in the real world. This allows you to contact your friends that were very far away and online in the game.

However, they could only contact people registered on their friend list.

"..."

"..."

The silence hung between them as both of them though about what to say. But the answer was obvious, Kruger had a better grasp of the situation than Juliet. From what Kruger knew, Juliet hadn't login in the past 2 years.

Kruger told Juliet everything she knew.

Everything wasn't much.

If it were about things that happened during the two years when Juliet wasn't around, they could have talked all day. But Kruger had no clue regarding the reason and background as to why they were involved in this perplexing event.

What she could confirm was that she installed the expansion pack, Novasphere's Pioneers and was playing with two beginners just outside the city when the incident happened.

(Now that I think about it, how are those kids doing... I need to check on them later.)

As Kruger narrated, Juliet listened carefully. When unfamiliar terms popped up she would ask about them, but she didn't interrupt with her own opinions.

Kruger doesn't like noise. She is fine with lively and festive atmosphere, but she dislikes chaotic hustle and bustle. Juliet is cheerful and mischievous, but she is smart enough to listen to others.

Their personality differed, but they hit it off well. Maybe both had the generosity to compromise with each other.

"I see... Eh... Alternate world... An alternate world transported us in, fantasy becomes reality..."

"So Juliet, why are you here? Making a comeback?"

"Yeah, I heard about the new expansion pack, and things at work were calming down so I logged in to check it out..."

(So Juliet is coming back. She was planning on coming back...)

She recalled that Juliet was 2 years her junior, but unlike her, Juliet didn't chose the graduate school route. Hence, she is way up the career ladder than Kruger.

Kruger met Juliet 4 years ago. She was already a veteran gamer in Elder Tales. It is normal for a teenager to play with computers in that era, but Natsuki was one of the few indoor types. Put simply, even if she goes out, her heart is still at home. She is the type of kid who is lonely in the middle of a crowd.

Even after moving on to high school and college, she maintained this form of entertainment, touring the virtual world every day.

Elder Tales already had a special place among online gamers back then. If you wanted to play a challenging game with incredible content, it had to be Elder Tales. This is how players view the game.

For instance, Elder Tales had a grand vision, the Half Gaia Project. It might sound ridiculous, but the goal of the project was to recreate Earth at half its scale.

The starting city for Japanese server in the Kanto region was Akiba, corresponding to Tokyo and its surrounding region in the Japan archipelago. Fuuka, where Natsuki lives, is only an hour away by boat from Tokyo. So naturally, she was sent there when she first play Elder Tales.

North American servers had Big Apple and South Angel as starting cities. Western European servers had Londonheim and Fleur De Vie, just to name a few. South America had Cusco and Amazonia, and so on. It is common for countries like the United States with high player population to have more than 1 starting city.

Japanese and American servers are just convenient names to refer to. The online world was made up of many different servers connected to each other, so it is theoretically possible to head for other continents or even the end of the world.

Hence, one of the selling points of Elder Tales is the ability to travel a world at a size half of Earth. Obviously, this provides a massive open world exploration adventure for players, something normal MMOs could not emulate because of the massive development cost.

The Half Gaia Project is a long term goal; the current game is not a perfect rendition of the real world yet.

In Elder Tales, the world was divided into many zones, each with its own territory and boundaries.

The vast sea of trees in Mount Fuji is a zone where ferocious monsters lurked, the dungeon Shinshuku Metro Complex is a stage for adventure, and the city of Akiba is a non-combat zone.

Going deeper, a room in a hotel is also a small zone. Some zones could be traded. If you accumulate enough in-game coins, you could be a land or home owner.

All zones are connected in their own ways. Open plains, for example, didn't have boundary demarcations, so players weren't able to tell which zone they were actually in. When they moved across zones, they wouldn't even notice.

Some zones have obvious demarcations, like some buildings and rooms, which are individual zones connected elsewhere through a door.

From what Kruger knew, the Japanese server managed tens of thousands of zones.

With such a scale, the developer company had to outsource to other major gaming companies, and knowledgeable veteran players like Kruger are convenient reliable existences.

Kruger had been invited by many guilds during her long tenure in the game, and had joined a guild temporarily, thinking of it as a trial.

Guilds are the most common way for players to form a group in Elder Tales.

After entering a guild, players could access the guild account in the bank and use the guild warehouse to manage their equipment easily as well as other convenient services. The guild members kept in touch with each other, so it was easy to form raid parties.

Most players in Elder Tales joined a guild, since it is convenient and has many benefits.

Since Kruger liked to research game contents and even got news from foreign servers, her knowledge was better than most veteran players who had played as long as she had. From this perspective, Kruger was someone who could contribute greatly to whichever guild she chose to join.

No player could grasp the details of all the zones perfectly. Kruger is not a genius at that level. But things like main routes, the connections between zones, or the transportation devices known as Fairy Rings could shorten your transportation time greatly. What you could buy at which zone or where you could hunt for a specific monster. This kind of knowledge needs to be accumulate slowly over time.

Countless zones, endless varieties of items and monsters, quests, all kinds of ancient lore, and anything else the developers could think of. All of these culminate as Elder Tales.

However, Kruger could not get used to relationships that included elements of convenience and benefit. Even if Kruger didn't make many requests of others, she didn't know how to decline others.

She didn't reject them, but her feelings didn't accept them either.

There were all sorts of people in the game world. As long as there were people, there would be both pure and impure relationships. For the naive and stubborn middle-schooler Kruger, this might have been too shocking.

Kruger noticed that she was being used like a walking encyclopedia. Along with her high level avatar, she was dragged around like an all-purpose tool to fight for the convenience of others.

Kruger couldn't adjust to this type relationship or reject it tactfully, so she chose to leave the guild and mingle with others in temporary raid parties by herself.

Before Kruger realized it, she had become a famous solo player with both deep knowledge and a high level avatar. As her fame grew, she fell deeper into solitude.

Juliet met her when Kruger was starting to get stronger and travel alone, having given up on guilds. Kruger was starting to grow numb to the feeling of solitude.

Kruger and Juliet met in the Debauchery Tea Party.

The Debauchery Tea Party was not a guild. It was just the Debauchery Tea Party. There was no other way to describe it. It was just a group of players who 'just' happened to congregate there.

Even though they 'just' happened to be there, but they were 'always' there and 'ready' to go.

That was the first time Kruger felt like she belonged somewhere.

All of the members joined different guilds.

Their races or classes are all different.

They had nothing in common.

They just gathered in the ruined building. Sometimes in the plains, other times on the hills where you could see the stars.

This group went adventuring to many corners of Elder Tales world.

Elder Tales is a sword and sorcery style fantasy world, set thousands of years into the future. This is the setting the players brought into.

According to the legend of Elder Tales, there had been a massive war on Earth, shattering the old world, which was miraculously reconstructed by the gods into this one.

This is a common mythical setting in fantasy games.

Common mythical monsters like orcs, goblins, trolls, giants, chimeras, and hydras roamed the lands.

Most players found joy in battling. Gaining EXP and leveling up after defeating monsters, looting powerful and rare treasures. This is the common way to play Elder Tales.

But this is just grinding and farming, not real adventuring.

Fighting repeatedly and adventuring are two very different things. Kruger discovered that for the first time in the Debauchery Tea Party. And she could always see 'her' in the Debauchery Tea Party, as well as companions who were helping 'her'. Kruger was also one of her companion.

The people Kruger met in the Debauchery Tea Party might be the first friends she met in Elder Tales. Juliet was one of them.


Author's Rambling:

I thought Shizuru would make a perfect Krusty, meaning she's going to have the largest guild in the Japanese server(filled with her fans? lol). She's manipulative and lazy whenever she finds any opportunity to do that. Yup, definitely similar to Krusty. There's definitely going to be a lot of jealous Shiznat moment from now on lol

I'm using the Light Novel mostly, so it'll be a bit different from the Anime.

bla bla bla bla bla

Omake:

Shizuru: Ara Natsuki, I finally appeared! The last chapter was a disappointment. There was too much NatNao and NatKoto.

Natsuki: Yes, I can't believe that there will be the day when I would depend on Nao to defend my life *Depressed*

Shizuru: Ara, if Natsuki doesn't like that, maybe she could join my guild? I would gladly protect her with all my might!

Natsuki: *Shuddered* E-Er... I'd rather not...

Shizuru *Pout* Mou... Why not? I have prepared a special place for Natsuki in my guild (On my lap... fu fu fu)

Natsuki: Uh... Um... I don't like places with too many people?

Shizuru: Ara, not a problem! I'll just banish everyone from the guild at this moment! That way, we can always be together, just the two of us. U fu fu fu...

Haruka: Bubuzuke! Are you crazy!? *Grab Shizuru* We're leaving now! Come, Yukino! That delinquent will soon collapse us after she's defile with Bubuzuke!

Yukino: Haruka-chan, it's corrupt and done!