"You're kidding..." "Was this designed to be impossible?" "I lost." "We lost." "1)}Guild Master" "Guild Master." "Is that even right?" "Three raid bosses at once?" "It's not fair." "What was that thing?" "I-Is this the only place like this?" "You're right." "If all the other raid zones are like this now..." "They'll be impossible." "Winning a raid will become impossible." "What were we working so hard for?" "and worked together." "We failed and tried again... it felt great." "I felt like I'd grown." "That's all gone now." "Yeah." "There's no point." "No point in doing anything." "The game has abandoned us." "Elder Tale has abandoned us." "anyway?" "huh?" "A PC game in this day and age?" "Aren't social games good enough?" "You stay at home on weekends?" "Screw it." "I bet no one ever invites you to karaoke." "right?" "Why not get a hobby that'll be more useful to your future?" "right?" "I guess it's fine." "Screw it!" "What am I supposed to say?" "so let's do our best"?" "The other raid zones will be okay"?" "Those are lies." "I can't say them." "Wait a second." "Then what does this mean?" "Does this mean we're—" "We're finished." "I guess we can go back to Susukino and be a good peacekeeping guild." "That might not be so bad." "Ezzo has a lot of monsters." "The People of the Land will thank us." "Maybe I can get one of them to be my girlfriend." "That might be the smart way to live..." "Maybe." "But doesn't that make us no different from them?" "Those bastards who acted like they knew it all while they gave us advice we were supposed to be so thankful for?" "maybe." "I think you're right." "But what of it?" "Screw it!" "William?" "We lost." "We got wiped out." "We may be finished." "Maybe it was all a waste." "Like they always said..." "We're idiots who've wasted our time on something as pointless as games." "Game junkies who never leave their houses." "Vegetables." "But who cares?" "We knew that all along." "and we do it anyway." "But we love games." "We chose this." "I don't care if this is the end." "But I won't give this up." "There are some things you just can't give up." "It's no big deal." "All we did was lose in a raid." "That happens all the time." "There's no need to be shocked." "All it means is that another bit of win-loss data is recorded on the server." "Games are what children play." "No..." "They were special to me." "I won't tell you it's time to grow up and head back to town." "either." "losers who got beat... tell me it was a waste." "That's right." "they were the center of the universe!" "What do the bits recorded on the server matter?" "They matter." "I've decided they matter." "glorious things!" "The idiots who believe that God has decided exactly what matters won't understand." "No matter how stupid it looks no matter how fake and gilded it is if I—if we—decide it's amazing then it is!" "Isn't that what it means to choose?" "We chose to be here!" "I won't let anyone insult that." "We've spent a lot of time in Elder Tale..." "A very long time." "A powerful foe has appeared here and charge at it." "We'll scream and charge at it like children!" "and sometimes we'll lose." "switching between one and zero." "So what?" "We've dedicated our lives to it." "And that's amazing!" "we'll have a huge victory party." "We'll each take our share of the phantasmals and have a toast." "we'll get upset and spend the whole day talking about what we did wrong." "go ahead." "or if it's all fake." "We think it's amazing." "We've decided to spend our time on it." "So it's real!" "So we lost the raid..." "Something sacred and inviolate." "Then what do we do?" "What..." "What do I say to them?" "What can I say?" "right?" "That's who we are!" "I don't care about the people who have everything." "What is this?" "What am I saying?" "People who know how to live in harmony with others can have anything so they can live their lives that way." "What am I talking about?" "Do you guys have something like that?" "I don't know." "Anything!" "Something that allows you to go anywhere and befriend anyone." "But this is all I have left." "It can be intelligence." "It can be coolness." "It can be a bright personality." "It can be funny jokes." "It can be anything." "Do you have anything that lets you shine in the real world?" "I don't!" "Not a single thing!" "I've never told anyone." "I couldn't." "But you guys are my friends." "I wasn't able to make friends." "I'm so lame..." "I'm pathetic." "But I've made it this far because I had the game." "I can understand your feelings because I had the game." "I can tell that one of you wants healing or one guy who's posted in the back wants to be in the front." "Or that she's too shy to say so but she wants that bracelet that boosts magic." "That isn't all." "That this guy cares about his comrades." "but he's trying to yell as hard as he can." "but they forced themselves to log in anyway." "I can tell..." "I really can tell." "Yeah." "That's right." "Elder Tale has taught me many things." "I don't know how other people think." "I'm self-righteous." "Uncaring." "Uncooperative." "I give up too easily." "I can't read moods." "I don't try to get involved with other people." "That's what I was told for so long" "I started to refuse to be with others." "even someone like me was able to connect with others a little." "And as long as I cared about them" "Elder Tale taught me many secrets." "The first thing I learned was teamwork." "Some people did well at it." "Some people did horribly." "Some were talented." "Some sucked." "But what mattered was working with them." "Even when I thought someone was terrible sometimes I just didn't understand what they were trying to do." "And then I started doing raids." "I ended up guild master." "And the next thing I learned was the nights we spent excited over stupid stuff were the nights we excelled." "Some of my companions were healthy." "Some were sick." "of course." "I learned that all of them were like me." "I started to care about my companions' lives and what they wanted me to do." "And I learned to be open-minded and ask others for their opinions." "That was after my companions had learned to deal with my temper." "Most raid guilds don't last long." "Even if you get an item as the result of a raid you don't know who it belongs to." "Some members aren't happy with what they get." "and relationships are ruined." "But we learned to talk with one another." "I told my companions everything honestly and they forgave my short temper and trusted me." "Silver Sword spread throughout Elder Tale as one of the up-and-coming raid guilds." "So I understand that it feels like we're finished now." "Like it's game over." "It feels like this is the real end." "And it may be." "but..." "When I came to this world" "I was happy." "weren't you?" "right?" "after all." "The world that we became almost stupidly obsessed with." "The world of the raids that we were better at than anyone." "we might be able to make it." "William!" "Guild master!" "Hey." "But more than any of that" "I was happy to be with you guys." "You were all just like in the game." "but..." "I guess." "We could do raids together." "No one in this world would make fun of us." "we don't run!" "We may not be able to win!" "We probably won't." "we'll lose." "But we can't run." "There are some things you can't just accept." "then what?" "What would we do?" "what's left?" "We played Elder Tale so much that others thought we were weird." "I've spent these last two years on Elder Tale." "I thought about it from morning to night." "bathing..." "Everything was for that!" "Even my studying was for Elder Tale!" "too." "go ahead." "I'm a weirdo gamer." "I can spend a whole evening overjoyed over a rare item!" "That's how serious I've been about this!" "But that means that I can't run from two or three extra raid bosses." "where would I go?" "Will I run away and spend the rest of my life making fun of games?" "can I make friends?" "that was a waste of time"?" "Screw that crap!" "That's insane." "Then you're telling us to keep dying instead of running?" "How many times do I have to go through that?" "Demikas... that's fine." "But we don't." "Not anymore." "We're just playing a game." "that doesn't change." "We're useless mouths to feed." "And we can't even win the game we play." "Will you still tell us not to run?" "I ran once... but I finally figured it out." "It was the first Round Table conference in Akihabara." "I wanted to do raids in this new world more than anything." "I'm not wasting my time with this." "The safety of the city?" "That's stupid." "It's a waste of time." "I thought they were fools wasting their time on an impossible task." "if someone had done it to me" "I would've wanted to punch them." "It's funny." "I know that now." "I ran." "I ignored them because I didn't think it would work." "But there was one player who didn't run." "He was the man I looked up to." "The legendary party who'd gone toe-to-toe with the best without ever making a guild of their own." "The Debauchery Tea Party." "When I heard the rumors of them too." "they split up." "The members went back to being solo and split up." "I didn't understand why they'd left their legend if they were just going to quit." "but he... and made Akihabara." "A raid that created a city!" "How can you make fun of that?" "I thought he was an incredible leader." "Of course." "I..." "I looked up to him." "He couldn't just be an ordinary guy." "And when he came to me for a favor" "I agreed instantly." "Of course it would be impossible." "The villain in glasses brought it to me." "Of course something horrible would happen to all of us." "He's a nuisance and a sadist." "You can see it by looking at him." "But I thought it was fun!" "I hoped we'd win." "The reason was damn it!" "Guess I'll try it." "I could give it one more go." "I'm seriously an idiot." "But I want to win!" "No..." "I..." "I want to give my friends victory!" "huh?" "Shiro." "You awake?" "Yeah." "isn't it?" "Yeah." "Could I..." "Could I do that?" "If Minori and Tohya were sad..." "If Isuzu and Rudy were crying..." "Could I cheer them up with honest words like that?" "If Akatsuki..." "Don't worry about anything." "It's my job to protect you." "I want to help them win." "Shiroe?" "huh?" "you know." "strategist?" "Naotsugu." "Tetra." "And William." "And everyone." "About why we need this raid." "What waits down there." "Why I want the gold." "I should have told you." "and I tried to do it all myself." "I have a plan that's a bit better." "But only a bit." "What are our odds?" "Fifteen percent." "Good enough for me!" "Perfect." "too." "What we want." "About the land of Yamato." "I have to look them in the eye and tell them." "See you." "We'll be back as soon as we can." "Good luck." "I'll have some New Year's soup with chicken waiting." "it's a promise!" "It's been a week since then." "Everything is ready." "We're about to go to the last battle." "We'll have to get that New Year's soba another time." "Tell the chief we'll be back by January 7th." "I need to tell you all something." "Understood." "my lord." "Yeah." "I'll come back to everyone." "people!" "Let's go plant our flag!" "That's right." "I'll return to everyone." "And... four." "The count sounds." "Three raid bosses." "Preparations are complete." "Weapons in their hands." "Maps in their eyes." "The plan in their heads." "Their odds of winning are fifteen percent." "But their comrades are with them to try again." "Next time:" "Retry." "Retry" "Rise up once more."