In the Land of Leadale Vol. 5
Copyright
In the Land of Leadale 5
Ceez
Translation by Jessica Lange
Cover art by Tenmaso
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
RIADEIRU NO DAICHI NITE Vol. 5
© Ceez 2020
First published in Japan in 2020 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo.
English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo through TUTTLE-MORI AGENCY, INC., Tokyo.
English translation © 2022 by Yen Press, LLC
Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ceez, author. | Tenmaso, illustrator. | Lange, Jessica (Translator), translator.
Title: In the land of Leadale / Ceez ; illustration by Tenmaso ; translation by Jessica Lange
Other titles: Riadeiru no daichi nite. English
Description: First Yen On edition. | New York, NY : Yen On, 2020.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020032160 | ISBN 9781975308681 (v. 1 ; trade paperback) | ISBN 9781975308704 (v. 2 ; trade paperback) | ISBN 9781975322168 (v. 3 ; trade paperback) | ISBN 9781975322182 (v. 4 ; trade paperback) | ISBN 9781975333447 (v. 5 ; trade paperback) | ISBN 9781975334598 (v. 6 ; trade paperback)
Subjects: CYAC: Fantasy. | Virtual reality—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.C4646 In 2020 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020032160
ISBNs: 978-1-9753-3344-7 (paperback)
978-1-9753-3345-4 (ebook)
E3-20220322-JV-NF-ORI
CONTENTS
Cover
Insert
Title Page
Copyright
The Story Thus Far
Prologue
Chapter 1
A Naming, Village Life, an Emergency, and an Attack
Chapter 2
A Beatdown, an Invasion, a Quiz, and a Resolution
Chapter 3
A Sanctuary, a Meeting, a Trip to Otaloquess, and a Reunion
Chapter 4
The Arrival, a Dungeon, a Gimmick, and a Trap
Chapter 5
A Discovery, Self-Sacrifice, a Tough Enemy, and Rage
Bonus Short Story
Quolkeh’s Suffering
Character Data
Afterword
Yen Newsletter
The Story Thus Far
After surviving a horrendous accident, Keina Kagami was left paralyzed and permanently bedridden. Suddenly stuck with ample free time, her life mostly revolved around visits with her cousin and playing VR games. Keina became addicted to one VRMMORPG in particular and quickly rose as a top player.
One day, she died while playing the VRMMO Leadale after a power surge short-circuited the equipment that kept her alive.
…But that wasn’t the end.
She suddenly woke in an unfamiliar room in the body of her game avatar.
After talking with the inn proprietress, Marelle, and her daughter Lytt, Keina was dumbfounded to discover her new world was similar to Leadale except two hundred years in the future. The seven nations from the Game Era had been destroyed and replaced by three new governments. Choosing to embrace her avatar’s identity, Cayna checked up on her skills, modernized the remote village, and held on to a small glimmer of hope she’d meet other players someday.
Cayna next paid a visit to her Skill Master tower. The Guardian mural reported it had lost all connection with the remaining twelve towers, so she decided to pack her bags and travel the world.
Before heading out, Cayna met some new village arrivals—a merchant named Elineh, along with the mercenary captain Arbiter, whose crew was protecting him. She accompanied them to the royal capital of the central nation of Felskeilo and there met sub-characters she’d submitted to the Foster System: her adopted dwarf son Kartatz, elf daughter Mai-Mai, and oldest son, the elf Skargo.
The sudden reality she was the mother of three sent Cayna into an emotional tailspin, but despite the ongoing shenanigans of her eldest son, Skargo (a top Felskeilo official and quirky skill exhibitionist), she strived to connect with the children who loved their mother so dearly.
Not long after, Cayna pinpointed a Guardian Tower in Felskeilo’s Battle Arena. However, this wasn’t the only surprise in store—she simultaneously discovered VRMMO Leadale’s service had already ended, and she was living in a post-Game Era. Cayna reeled from the revelation but came out of her funk with stronger familial bonds and newfound determination.
During an escort mission with Elineh to the northern nation of Helshper, Cayna stopped by the remote village for a rare visit only to hear something strange was afoot. The mysterious incident turned out to be Mimily, a mermaid of unknown origin who somehow ended up lost in the underground waterways. Cayna later asked the village to house Mimily in the public bathhouse as compensation for fulfilling their request.
On the border of Helshper, Cayna ran into a group of bandits who had been wreaking havoc along the western trade routes. A battle quickly ensued, but the rogues were no match for her. Once in Helshper’s royal capital, Cayna made her way to the continent’s biggest merchant company, Sakaiya, and delivered a letter from Mai-Mai to its founder, Caerick. The revelation he was Mai-Mai’s son and, by extension, Cayna’s grandson almost did her in, and a slight misunderstanding created a fissure in their relationship. Her consternation only deepened when his older twin sister, the knight Caerina, came to apologize on his behalf.
Even so, Elineh reported there was a Guardian-like tower in the bandit territory to the west, so Cayna and Caerick prepared to launch a joint attack. After saving Caerina from near disaster, Cayna forcefully pushed her way through a ring of knights only to realize, to her dismay, that the demon leader of the bandits was actually a player. Nonetheless enraged by his selfishness and arrogance, she challenged him to a fight. Way out of his depth, the small-time player never stood a chance against an all-powerful Skill Master.
Cayna almost finished the job but allowed the intervening knights to arrest him. With authoritative powers equal to a Game Master, she knocked the demon player’s strength down by 90 percent. The knights dragged him away kicking and screaming.
After rebooting the Guardian Tower in question, Cayna learned its former Skill Master was her terrible friend and fellow guild member, Opuskettenshultheimer Crosstettbomber—aka Opus. The Guardian gave her a book, and a tiny fairy popped out to join Cayna on her journey. The high elf had a sneaking suspicion this new addition was closely connected to Opus
.
Cayna tried to give Mimily the reward money she’d earned subjugating the bandits, but by the time she returned to the remote village, the mermaid had already taken Lytt’s advice and established her very own laundry service.
Cayna next headed to the Felskeilo capital and took on a request from the Adventurers Guild. It was here she ran into the prime minister’s granddaughter, Lonti, and Lonti’s runaway friend, Mye. Cayna agreed to harbor Mye and enjoyed going about her mission with some rare company.
Meanwhile at the Royal Academy, a chimera monster threw Felskeilo into mass chaos after Mai-Mai’s husband, Lopus, tossed his failed experiment into a garbage pit. The dumping grounds were once a disputed point between the White and Green Kingdoms back in the Game Era, and Lopus’s magical scraps just happened to be the exact ingredients needed to spawn a chimera.
Shining Saber, the dragoid captain of the Helshper knights, was out searching for Mye (also known as Crown Princess Myleene) when he reunited with his old friend, the adventurer Cohral. Both were former players and members of the Silver Moon Horsemen Guild led by the Ninth Skill Master, Kyotaro. After quickly catching up, the two felt duty bound as players to defeat the monster and decided to defeat it themselves. However, the duo’s strength wouldn’t have sufficed even in the Game Era, and they soon found themselves in hot water.
Meanwhile, Kartatz left Felskeilo to look for his mother after receiving a strange telepathic message. Struck by ill foreboding, Cayna raced back to Felskeilo and met up with her younger son. She wasted no time blitzing the chimera with large-scale magic.
After the battle, Cayna enjoyed some quality time with her two fellow players, and Cohral told her about the Palace of the Dragon King lying in the depths of the ocean. Certain it was a Guardian Tower, she decided to accompany a group of knights on their way to squash the leftover bandits.
On her way to the Guardian Tower, Cayna made a brief stop at the remote village and ran into a research group from Otaloquess. She soundly defeated a female werecat named Clofia in a scuffle, and her older brother, Cloffe, soon revealed they were actually spies. Furthermore, he told her about Sahalashade, the high-elf queen of Otaloquess. The royal was a Foster Child of a high-elf player who had been like a little sister to Cayna. This subsequently made Sahalashade Cayna’s niece, and she became increasingly alarmed by her high-profile family tree.
Thanks to a misunderstanding while on the road, the knights recognized Cayna as Shining Saber’s fiancée. She parted with them halfway and headed for a fishing village where people had reportedly spotted the Palace of the Dragon King. However, a disquieting mist had rolled in and transformed the hamlet into a graveyard overrun by zombies and ghouls. There, Cayna met a young girl—the village’s sole survivor—and Quolkeh, an adventurer from Helshper who came to investigate the village but now served as her protector. Cayna also reunited with a dragoid named Exis, a former Cream Cheese member who had played as Tartarus on a secondary account.
Cayna summoned a cat-eared butler to look after the little girl, and the three worked together to destroy the pirate ship creating all these problems and free the souls of everyone who had been turned undead. Cayna adopted the lone survivor, Luka, and decided to move back to the remote village so she could give the girl a stable home. She summoned additional help in the form of the cat-eared maid Roxine, and their previously pleasant trip home challenged the limits of her patience. Cayna built a house and began her domestic life in the village with Luka and the volatile duo that was Roxilius and Roxine.
Fulfilling a longtime promise to Lytt, Cayna invited her and the other children on a scenic flight. There were only three children in the entire village: Cayna’s adopted daughter, Luka; the innkeeper’s daughter Lytt; and the head of the contracting firm’s son, Latem. As everyone was having fun and taking in the view, they spotted Elineh’s caravan being attacked by monsters.
After driving back the initial horde, Cayna realized Event Monsters from the Game Era were lurking in the surrounding area and set out to crush them with the help of Arbiter and his mercenaries.
Meanwhile, the children left the village as well…to make flower crowns. Just as a horde of monsters were upon them and all hope seemed lost, a level-990 White Dragon leaped from the pendant Cayna had given Luka. The beast drove back the enemy and carved fissures across the land with its breath. Alarmed by the thunderous noise, Cayna raced back to the village. She took Luka into her arms and bawled like a baby when she found the girl safe.
Cayna later flew to Sakaiya to stock up on necessities and came across Cohral and his party. They were answering a request from the Adventurers Guild, and she introduced them to her great-grandson, the young master Idzik. No sooner had Cayna heard from Caerick that Helshper and Felskeilo were planning to meet at the national border when she returned home to find her son Skargo waiting there. He had been appointed as the king’s representative for the duration of the conference and stopped by the remote village to pay a visit.
One day while Cayna was boosting the village’s defenses with Roxilius, the village elder told her their land was under the domain of the Harvey family of barons—the very same nobles her daughter Mai-Mai had married into.
Their daily necessities started running low, so Cayna decided to take Luka and Lytt on a shopping trip to show them more of the world. Accompanied by Elineh’s impeccably timed caravan, she also took this opportunity to test out the creature comforts of her driverless golem carriage. However, Elineh informed her the golem carriage had also caught the eye of a troublesome noble, so Cayna told Roxine to keep an eye out. The group arrived in Felskeilo (for better or worse) in the middle of the city’s biggest event, the River Festival.
However, the main festival was at a standstill thanks to rumors of a large shadow lurking in the Ejidd River, and a request from the Adventurers Guild soon threw Cayna headlong into the situation.
There was no room left at any inn, but Elineh offered one of his company’s houses for Cayna, Roxine, and the children to use as a temporary base. After leaving Luka and Lytt in safekeeping with Roxine and a summoned beast, Cayna went to investigate the river.
Meanwhile, a shadowy organization in Felskeilo accepted a noble’s request to kidnap anyone connected to Cayna. While giving the children a tour of the city in her master’s absence, Roxine noticed the wild schemes of these shady men and incapacitated them without causing the slightest ruckus.
Underestimating the maid and children cost these crooks dearly, and they were forced to slink away. However, fiendish monsters from a certain source greeted the men back at their hideout. They were quickly overtaken by fear and violence as their lives were twisted for sheer entertainment. The next day, a group of knights discovered the organization members contorted into every shape and size. Realizing this was the work of a cruel devil, the city upped its security.
Meanwhile, Cayna learned from the Guardian Tower in the Battle Arena that the shadow in the river was another Guardian Tower—a mobile type that belonged to the First Skill Master and took the form of a giant white whale.
To keep the movable Guardian Tower stationary, Cayna hoped the knights and princess would help her trick the citizens. For this absurd plan to work, she had to convince the city the white whale was a river god and turn it into a kind of tourist attraction.
With Mai-Mai as her ticket into the castle, Cayna approached the knights with this idea. They instantly agreed for some reason, and her collaborators dove into the task while also demanding the impossible of Kartatz.
The ruse turned out to be a huge success, and the whale Guardian Tower was stationed upriver of the sandbar. The festivities could finally begin, and the city welcomed the news with gusto. Cayna enjoyed quality time with the children but ran into trouble when an arrogant noble challenged her at the Academy. Nevertheless, Cayna’s rock golem crushed his earth one to dust.
The highlight of the festival was a small boat race, but it had to be canceled on account of the whale tower, now known to the p
ublic as the Lord of Water. As events drew to a close, a spy exposed the many schemes of the noble who had attempted to lay a hand on Cayna. Demoted by the king, he sank into frustration and despair.
Soon, a demon man who had only pretended to be a spy appeared before him. With his fiendish companions at his command, he jeered at the nobleman’s plight before letting a coin determine his form of execution.
Before returning to the village, Cayna visited Kartatz to thank him for both his help with the incident and the materials she had used to build her home. The children asked if they could watch the shipbuilders work, so she decided to do a little fishing in the meantime. Cayna reeled in one massive catch after the other until finally nabbing a type of chimera monster.
The creature had been sighted before the white whale’s shadow ever appeared, and this turned out to be the real source of all the hubbub. It dropped a rare ore after she caught it, and Cayna quickly realized this chimera monster also came from a disputed point.
Cayna said her various good-byes and headed home. On the way, she came across Skargo and Cohral. When the latter told her about the mysterious game system and the Abandoned Capital, her urge to find Opus grew more powerful than ever.
Upon returning to the village, Cayna and the girls found a prostrated Roxilius and a note that only read, “Name her.”
A caravan made camp for the night after traveling about two days west of Felskeilo. They had only just begun to unpack, and there was still some time before twilight, but this group of small-time merchants stuck close together in self-defense. Unlike larger companies, this one lacked a bevy of staff, and the management had to handle everything themselves.
Accompanying the caravan was an envoy of three adventurer parties, fifteen people in total. They were divided into rotating lookout, standby, and counterattack units. The main road leading northwest had been closed thanks to a rash of bandit activity, but rumor had it two nations had combined their knight forces and flushed them out. Of course, the fact that a certain adventurer had captured the bandit leader was kept a secret from the general public. Conscientious merchants stayed quiet for the right price.