The Depths of Palm

The Depths of Palm (パルムの深き場所 Parumu no Fukaki Basho) is the 3rd episode of Log Horizon anime. It covers The Beginning of Another World chapter 4.

Cold Open
Wyverns fly around Tear Stone Mountain, with Shiroe's Party walking to the Depths of Palm. Upon arriving at the entrance, Akatsuki notes that the area looks different in-person compared to the game.

Depths
A little bit later, Shiroe and Naotsugu are walking through the depths when Akatsuki reports in to tell them that there are no enemies in sight. Shiroe gives a recap on what they were doing; they are three days into a journey to save Serara in Susukino. Although their Griffins can only be used four hours per day, the party managed to travel a distance that would take two weeks by horse. As they approached Tear Stone Mountain, the presence of Wyverns forced them to go through the Depths of Palm instead, even though it was a dangerous dungeon that took more time. The Depths of Palm is a complex maze of ancient tunnels and mine shafts, with an exit to the northern side of Tear Stone Mountain.

Naotsugu praises the design of the tunnel when suddenly, the bridge cracks, which was not a function in the game. Akatsuki and Shiroe then notice the presence of Rat-Men, a low-level type of demi-human monster that could spread Plague. Also, they instinctively detect the level difference between them and Shiroe's Party, so they decide not to attack until they could have the party cornered. For this reason, Shiroe decides to take another route when Akatsuki notices the Rat-Men gathering at the top of the tunnel.

As they rest in a safe area, Akatsuki reports that she already scouted the floor ahead. As Shiroe thanks Akatsuki and asks what she saw, Akatsuki gets annoyed again by the fact that he was being too formal. Diverting from the subject, Shiroe asks Naotsugu to go ahead and eat, who gets depressed over the tasteless food that couldn't be cooked and didn't change even if a Chef made it. The only respite was that ingredients possessed taste, including fruits and seasonings of salt and pepper. After, as Naotsugu complains about their consistently mushy food, Shiroe gets a call from Marielle, who asks about his progress.

She is surprised when he told her that he had already reached the Depths of Palm, unaware that he and Naotsugu were in possession of Griffins. Henrietta barges into the call, first asking about how they did it, then immediately asking about Akatsuki's safety, much to the girl's horror. Diverting the questions, Shiroe asks the guild mistress about Serara's status, who informs him that Serara was hiding with a "nice guy". Shiroe exposes that Telepathic Communication can be established among friends, but friending is only possible within sight range.

Serara
As Shiroe wonders what the "nice guy" in Susukino was like, the scene switches to Serara inside a house. There, she displays surprise and agony over the fact that her Housekeeper level is now 44, since she was always cleaning out of boredom. She bemoans how she picked such a useless subclass and wonders what it would be like to have a Production subclass while she cleans the house. Coming to a sort of realization, she declares that she's actually practicing being a housewife, waiting for her "kitty-husband" to come home. Much to to her shock and slight horror, Nyanta arrives just after she says this out loud.

Regaining her composure, Serara asks about situations in town, but it is the same as usual. Some Brigandia members are seen robbing from the Earthling merchants and harassing them. As Nyanta and Serara talk, Nyanta praises the house’s cleanliness, which outshines the drabness of the deserted building. He asked about the people on their way to save Serara, and she states that they may arrive the next day, before noon. Nyanta is pleasantly surprised that her rescuers had arrived in such a short amount of time.

Guild Gathering
Marielle thanks Shiroe for accepting the request; once they end their conversation, the party continues their journey. Henrietta questions how Shiroe was going to cross the tunnel, but Marielle is convinced that he had some plan. Henrietta then wonders why he refused joining guilds, but not even Marielle knows why. At that moment, Liliana appears at the doorway, announcing that a conference has gathered. As Marielle and some other Crescent Moon Alliance members walk along the hallway, Marielle asks about the attendance of the guilds: 60% were coming, 10% didn't reply, and 30% refused. Meanwhile, in D.D.D's guild hall, Takayama Misa informs Krusty about the small guilds' conference and Shiroe's current position.

Fall and Flashback
Meanwhile, Naotsugu almost falls from a cracking bridge. Shiroe heard more cracking sound and tried to stop Akatsuki and Naotsugu when the bridge cracked. Just as Shiroe reaches for her, the bridge cracks from underneath him and he plummets down below. Although Akatsuki wants to jump down after him, Naotsugu holds her back.



Shiroe is struggling to survive in the water, afraid that if he died, he would be transported back to the Cathedral in Akiba. As he heard Akatsuki and Naotsugu call his name he reminisces about his life back in the real world, where he was an introvert. After he began playing Elder Tale, many people discovered his renowned wisdom and kept on asking and demanding things out of him due to his experience with the game. However, there was a group that wasn't like that, whose leader only wanted to see all the pretty scenery in the game.

As Shiroe regains consciousness, he sees Akatsuki hovering over him worriedly while Naotsugu is cleaning his sword. Naotsugu tells Shiroe to thank Akatsuki, as she jumped down to save him. Akatsuki adds that Naotsugu also jumped to save both of them. After Shiroe thanks both of them, Akatsuki also thanks Shiroe because he had tried to save her life. Shiroe remarks that he didn't feel any pain or chills, despite falling from a great height into water. Naotsugu justifies with their high level, noting that he didn't feel any fatigue despite having walked for a long time.

As the group approaches the exit, Akatsuki praises Shiroe's cartography skills, which Shiroe explains is the result of his Scribe subclass and his CAD work in real life, as he was an engineering student in his last year at college. With that, Akatsuki adds that this puts them around the same age, surprising the two men in the group. Unlike Shiroe, Naotsugu immediately blurts out his surprise, earning him a swift knee kick from the girl. In his attempt to ignore Akatsuki's threatening aura, Shiroe suddenly remembers two kids he was mentoring before the Catastrophe struck; he had forgotten about them, having seen them join a guild and deciding that they were safe.

Rat-Maso


Suddenly, they switched zones and became aware of a presence of something big blocking the stairs. The monster look like an extremely large Rat-Man and Shiroe suppose it was a new monster in the Homesteading the Noosphere expansion. Although it was risky, Shiroe decides to eliminate Rat-Maso, starting with Naotsugu drawing the aggro of the monster. As the monster attacks him by the tail, Akatsuki comes from behind with「Stealth Blade」, and Naotsugu retaliates with「Cross Slash」. Shiroe applies「Thorn Bind Hostage」, setting the team up to deal extra damage. Akatsuki then makes the fatal blow with 「Assassinate」, buffed by Shiroe's「Mind Shock」and「Keen Edge」.

Upon finally reaching the other side of the mountains, Shiroe is awestruck by the gorgeous ocean view with the sunrise. Shiroe remembers his time in the Debauchery Tea Party, where its leader told him that adventures would let them see new things. With that, Shiroe tells the other two that they were the first ones in this new world to see the other side of the Depths of Palm. Akatsuki reckons that the sunrise is like a reward for their first adventure.

Brigandia
In Susukino, Demiqas, the leader of Brigandia, makes his threat known as he kills a member of his own guild who was trying to back out of their habit of killing and stealing from Earthlings. Infuriated that Serara and Nyanta still eluded him, he ordered his men to continue searching for them.