Log Horizon - Volume 9 - Chapter 2.4

4 
“Yi gui? A plague demon?” 
At Kanami’s words, Yagudo nodded. 
“So…what’s that, exactly?” 
“No idea. This is the first time I’ve seen one. I’d heard stories from peddlers, but…” 
Yagudo, the village’s chief and leader, shook his head several times. His expression was grave, and he looked very tired. 
Yagudo’s house was built of sun-dried brick. The door and windows were square and open, and the room was fresh and airy. The culture in this village was somewhere between nomadic and settled ranching; half of the buildings that could be called houses were simple things made of sun-dried brick, while the remaining half were tents made from thick cloth. 
Some houses had been reinforced with wood or had built-in floors. Yagudo’s house also served as the reception room for the whole village, a place where visitors from the outside world were welcomed. As a result, it was twice as big as the houses around it, and it was composed of several square rooms built around a central courtyard. 
Leonardo’s party was in a large, five-meter-square room in that house, talking with Yagudo about the disturbance that had just occurred. 
“What sort of stories have you heard, Sir Yagudo?” 
No matter whom he was talking to, Elias was always sociable and polite. In response to the question, Yagudo stroked his goatlike beard two or three times, then began to speak, remembering as he went. 
“They say uncanny beings possessed by evil spirits have begun turning up in the Aorsoi wasteland. They call them ‘plague demons.’” 
“I see.” 
The view outside the window was gradually turning wine-red. Inside the room, Yagudo’s elderly wife had already fed the hearth fire and was boiling water. 
“The plague demons appear in the wilderness. They’re said to be the survivors of destroyed villages, or lunatics, or possessed by devils. If the flocks are out at pasture, they’ll steal sheep. They kill the sheep right there and eat them. Because of the way they look, they’re called evil spirits or plague demons.” 
The chieftain’s voice was low and hoarse. 
“However, they don’t seem to attack villagers. They pass right by people as if they can’t even see them. That isn’t to say they don’t rampage. Some have seen them drunk on blood in the wilderness, as if they’ve gone mad. I also hear that, when they find an Adventurer, they attack them.” 
Leonardo gave a small nod. 
If the “Gnoll” he’d seen on the status screen had been the truth, then the situation wasn’t impossible to explain. 
Gnolls really were vicious demihumans, but they didn’t attack People of the Earth. This wasn’t out of goodwill; it was because they were cunning and cowardly. They knew that, if they attacked a Person of the Earth, the whole group would take steps to defend against them. Those beasts tended to go after their livestock, not the People themselves. 
On the other hand, if they saw an Adventurer, they would actively attack them. They knew that People of the Earth would run if they let them go, but they seemed to be aware that Adventurers were “enemies” who had come to drive them away. 
If that boy had been a gnoll, it made sense that he’d attacked Kanami and had then attacked the rest of them. To gnolls, People of the Earth were mere insects, not worth attacking. 
However, although that might explain why it had attacked Leonardo’s group, it didn’t explain why it had looked human. 
“Sir Yagudo. We hadn’t heard of plague demons before. Have there been tales of them in this region for a very long time?” 
“No, not at all. It hasn’t even been three months since we first heard of them ourselves. They appeared real suddenly,” the old man responded to Elias. 
“In that case, was that boy, um…” 
“Was he a member of this village?” 
The answer to Kanami and Coppélia’s respective questions was “No.” 
The boy did have the characteristics of a Person of the Earth from this region, but he apparently hadn’t been from this village. 
The assailant himself was asleep in a corner of this same large room, wrapped in a blanket. In addition to fixing his abnormal status, the healing spell Coppélia had cast on him had recovered his split right arm, but he still hadn’t regained consciousness. 
To Leonardo, the boy didn’t seem dangerous anymore. Most importantly, his status had stabilized so that his name was always Sejin, his level was 2, and his class was Settler. From the look of his sleeping face, he was no different from any other Person of the Earth boy, to the point where that buggy status seemed nightmarish. 
“…That boy…” 
“Coppélia guarantees that the boy is normal.” 
Yagudo continued to examine the boy’s face carefully. There was no disgust in his expression, only pity. 
“Do you suppose he was taken from some other village and is considered missing there?” 
“There’s no telling. The boy’s boots are very worn, and his clothes are torn and ragged. It looks as if he’s traveled quite a long distance. I think he may have been wandering for several months.” 
At Yagudo’s words, Kanami nodded. 
From her attitude, Leonardo suspected that Yagudo’s guess might have matched some information she held and convinced her of something. However, Elias shrugged, and from the look of his expression, that wasn’t the case. In other words, she was just nodding. 
They asked Yagudo several detailed questions after that, but he had no more information for them. 

When Kanami put her innate charms to work, Yagudo gladly shared his provisions with them. Of course they gave him some gold coins in exchange, but Leonardo and the others were Adventurers, and as far as they were concerned, it wasn’t much money. Besides, in a remote village like this, they were just happy that someone had given them provisions at all. 
However, after talking it over among themselves, Kanami’s group decided to stay in the village for a few days. This was because, according to Chief Yagudo, traveling merchants were due to visit in a few days’ time. 
After hearing what Kanami had said, Leonardo had started wanting to make for the Japanese server, too. The idea of solving the mystery of the Catastrophe was so ridiculous that it just didn’t seem real to him, but the idea of the new patch was appealing. If he leveled his combat skills up past what he currently had, he’d be safer. That would definitely come in handy when it was time for him to return to his home across the world. 
That said, the land of Aorsoi was a primitive wasteland. There was no guarantee that what had happened in the ruins wouldn’t happen again. It was probably too naïve to think that, even without information, as long as they went in the direction of the rising sun, they’d eventually reach Japan. 
In any case, Thekkek was a small village, and the villagers almost never traveled. Naturally, the information they had was limited. The party wanted to buy consumable items, and it was clear that traveling peddlers would have more information about road conditions and similar things. On a journey across this vast continent, that information would be more precious than food. 
Leonardo’s group had decided that, if traders were coming, getting information would be worth waiting a few days. 
When making that decision, the party went out to the stable to discuss it. Naturally, this was so that KR could participate. KR seemed to have good hearing; even from the stable, which was next door, he’d followed what Yagudo had said. 
Since they were going to have a discussion, it was convenient that he already knew what was going on, but KR was pretty cross. From what he said, a mare in the same stable had been making eyes at him. 
“Check you out, KR! You’re so popular.” 
“Hey, Kanami. ‘Popular’ is a much finer strawberry quartz charm… And I don’t want to hear that from you.” 
Kanami had pouted over that retort and had been ready to argue further, but they’d ignored her and had their discussion. As a result, they’d finalized their decision to stay in the village for a few days. The fact that Yagudo had offered to provide the group with lodging had been a major factor. Leonardo and Elias were sharing one room, while Kanami and Coppélia shared another. 
Naturally, KR would be in the stable, and although he’d complained, Leonardo and Elias had smoothed things over and managed to get him to agree… Although Kanami called it a “love hotel” and was very close to getting kicked by KR for a few moments there. 
“Still, what do you suppose that was?” 
“……” 
At Leonardo’s words, his companions fell silent. He hadn’t expected to get an answer, though; he’d never seen a status display like that one before. All he could think was that it had been some kind of bug. 
“I haven’t run into a phenomenon like that before.” 
“Nothing springs to mind from the oral traditions of the fairy tribe, either.” 
An unknown bug. 
The idea made Leonardo shudder. 
Sejin was a Person of the Earth, but could anyone guarantee that bug would occur only in People of the Earth? It was true that Adventurers seemed to be immortal in this world. Even if they fell in battle, they were sent to a temple and resurrected. 
However, if they turned into something like that boy… If they ended up as something like that, could they still be called “immortal”? 
Say there was a being that was warped that way, then simply did not die. For this world, that being would be a disaster. For the person in question, it would be an endless nightmare, a living hell. 
“Is that the sort of ‘something’ that can be handled by casting an abnormal status recovery spell?” 
The question had come from KR, and Coppélia answered it. 
“Coppélia has determined that that is not the case. After all, by the time Coppélia chanted the spell in question, the status display had already returned to normal.” 
“In that case, Leonardo’s paralysis attack served to cure the illness.” 
“I think that idea’s off base, too.” 
Leonardo took a moment to think, putting a hand to his chin. “My weapons are pretty good, but all they do is inflict additional flame damage. The technique I used, Paralyze Blow, doesn’t have any special auxiliary effects besides paralysis, either.” 
“……” 
At this, even KR, who tended to talk a little too much, went quiet. This was only natural. Absolutely nobody wanted to end up like that. 
If all they had to do was deal with it, the matter was simple. 
It was true that demihuman monsters were found across a wide range of levels. However, even if the range was wide, they were gnolls. The highest their levels really got was 70. To Leonardo and the others, they were nothing to be afraid of. 
However, unlike combat abilities, there was something about that eerie illness that awoke a primitive terror deep within their hearts. 
Wide, staring, lusterless eyes. A mouth from which canine teeth protruded and bloody saliva dripped endlessly. Four limbs, bent and warped, trying to force a human body to move like an animal. All these things were cloaked in a dark, ominous aura. 
Even Leonardo didn’t want to fight that. 
“Well, calm down. Look, it’s not like there are a ton of those out there.” 
“That’s probably true. The villagers here said that was the first one they’ve run into. If there were a lot of them, more people would have seen them. That’s only logical.” 
Kanami had spoken as if trying to smooth things over, and KR picked up where she’d left off. 
Even as Leonardo nodded, agreeing with them, he didn’t quite feel satisfied. He had a hunch that the incident wouldn’t end just like that and that they would wind up getting more deeply involved. 
He was right.