Log Horizon - Volume 9 - Chapter 5.6

6 
“Dammit. What kind of idiot bungees without a rope?” 
Leonardo was lying spread-eagled on the leaf mold. 
The trees around him had been mowed down and carried scars from his fight with Rasfia, but the area where he lay was quiet now. 
At some point, birdsong had twined its way into the cool sound of the mountain stream. 
The sounds that had echoed from far away and nearby up until just a little while ago, noises that had probably come from Elias and the others’ battle, had also disappeared. 
Apparently, they’d settled things somehow. 
That said, Leonardo couldn’t get up. 
His HP was extremely low, in the red zone. Rasfia’s freezing hand strikes seemed to have inflicted cold attribute damage. He hadn’t had the leeway to check during the fight, but he’d racked up more than ten negative statuses. The continuous damage each one inflicted was minuscule, but the total was nothing to sneeze at. 
That damage and the automatic recovery that occurred at times of peace were competing with each other on Leonardo’s HP bar. 
He didn’t feel like he was going to die right this second, but he couldn’t hope to recover naturally anytime soon. Besides that, his limbs tingled; they might have gotten frostbite. 
Still. Hot damn, I did it. 
Even so, Leonardo felt good. 
He’d done everything he could do. 
He wasn’t sure, but at the very least, they’d probably managed to halt the gnoll invasion along this tributary. Leonardo was sure that the pair he’d seen had been the masterminds behind this raid. 
Since he’d left the Raid-rank Black Dragon to KR, he didn’t know what had happened to it, but Leonardo had no doubt: 
This lowly geek had gotten through the fight. There was no way the easygoing KR would have wiped out. In any case, having lost the beings who’d been controlling it, the Black Dragon showed no sign of returning. That young guy probably didn’t need Leonardo worrying about him. 
Still, that didn’t matter anymore. 
This world wasn’t the world of Elder Tales. 
At this point, Leonardo was able to say that and mean it. 
In Elder Tales, raids were game content, and people spoke of their captures in terms of rare-item acquisitions and whether they’d subdued their targets or not. 
But this wasn’t Elder Tales. Even if they’d failed to subjugate the Black Dragon, even if they hadn’t gotten any rare items, even if KR and Leonardo had collapsed in the middle of it— As long as they’d managed to halt the monster invasion, the heroes had won. 
Now that village won’t take any damage… Right? 
That was how Leonardo summed up his thoughts, which the blood loss had left weirdly clear. 
He didn’t think the people of that village would ever know about this fight. Not only that, it was doubtful whether Leonardo’s group would ever visit the village again. 
Still, that’s fine, isn’t it? he thought. 
That was what heroes were like. 
Those four, the ones Leonardo idolized, fought without bothering themselves about that stuff. If there was somebody they wanted to save, and they saved them and took down injustice, then it was all good. 
Even so… 
Leonardo thought about the golden-haired girl he’d fought in mortal combat. Her existence had been much too graphic. She’d oozed an outsized lunacy. 
Even among the Puerto Rican pushers that hung out in the ghettos, there was nobody that crazy. He remembered Rasfia’s superficially calm and pretty speech and her feverish gaze. 
It was true that New York didn’t have the world’s best public order. As he walked its streets, he’d heard gunshots more than a couple of times. There were a ton of crazies living there, too. 
Still, to him, those people and that girl seemed different. 
All-knowing… Privy to the secrets of the cycle of transmigration. 
Considered in the ordinary way, Rasfia’s words were probably some sort of quest-related hint, but Leonardo just couldn’t think of them like that. He sensed trouble much nastier than that in them. 

The idea of his having grasped the secrets of destiny was ridiculous. Only a god could do that sort of thing. Gods just sat up there in heaven and smiled. That was all. 
That crazy-eyed woman, and Coppélia… 
According to Leonardo’s understanding of everything up to this point, neither of those two was human. 
Rasfia was a monster, and Coppélia was a bot. 
Still, in this world, that was probably wrong. Even if it was a logically accurate conclusion, his hero’s soul insisted that something was off. In that case, Leonardo believed in his soul. Skill might be what reviewed code, but the desire to review it came from the soul. His soul was what made Leonardo himself. 
“Heeeey, Croooakanaaardooooo!” 
At the sound of the carefree hailing, he sat up. His three companions were approaching from downstream, with Kanami in the lead. Apparently, they’d managed to drive the gnolls away. 
Kanami was waving at him energetically, and at the sight of her expression, the tension rapidly drained out of Leonardo’s mood. He sensed that trouble was on its way, but at the moment, from the bottom of his heart, he truly didn’t care. 
At any rate, in this world, there wasn’t much besides trouble to begin with. Heroes’ lives consisted of detecting incoming trouble, dealing with trouble, and cleaning up after trouble. Peace was just an intermission, an interlude. 
Leonardo smiled a little. I’ll have to get a lot tougher. For a guy, toughness was a condition of survival. That was true both in good old Big Apple and here in Aorsoi. 
He didn’t see KR, but they’d already said their good-byes. 
They’d probably meet again. Leonardo no longer had any doubt that he’d reach the Japanese server. He wouldn’t forget that sarcastic Summoner, the guy who’d saved him from danger. He swore that, if KR got himself into a tight corner someday, he’d be the one to rescue him. 
Noisy Kanami seemed to be arguing about something with the Ancient. The words “not grateful enough” and “I am grateful” reached Leonardo’s ears. Then, before more than a few words had been said, there was a big splash. Elias had been kicked into the river, and Kanami was laughing merrily. They really couldn’t have been louder. 
A shadow fell over Leonardo, and Coppélia peeked in at him. Behind her, the sun was beginning to travel down the western sky. As always, the girl’s inorganic, beautiful face looked indifferent. She tilted her head slightly and spoke to Leonardo: 
“Coppélia would like to point out that your HP has been greatly reduced. Do you wish to be healed?” 
“Coppélia.” 
“Yes?” 
Lying stretched out on the ground, Leonardo looked deep into the young woman’s eyes for the first time. In those eyes, he felt as if he’d found what he was searching for, and his heart grew warm. There was something he needed to say. 
“I’m sorry.” 
“Coppélia failed to detect the context for that apology.” 
“That’s fine.” 
Leonardo searched for just the right words for the perplexed young woman. 
“I’m Leonardo.” 
“Yes. Sir Leonardo.” 
“And yeah, I want to be healed.” 
“Understood.” 
She said his name for the first time, and he had asked for healing for the first time. The healing light was white with a faint crimson mixed into it, a color that reminded him of innocence. Coppélia’s recovery spell enfolded Leonardo like a warm cocoon, taking away the pain and fatigue. 
Wordlessly, the young woman examined Leonardo’s wounds closely. Her face was terribly serious. That expression was so careful that Leonardo finally managed to find the right words. 
“Coppélia.” 
“Yes?” 
“You do have a soul.” 
“?” 
“You’ve got one, all right. I can see it. The color of your soul is—” 
The healing pale pink that flowed from her slim fingertips. 
Leonardo said it with conviction. 
<Log Horizon 9—Go East, Kanami! The End>