Villain in Glasses

Villain in Glasses is the 8th episode of the Log Horizon anime. It first aired on November 23, 2013.

Synopsis
The episode opens up with a short bit on quests giving out various items or gold as rewards, showing examples, among them the griffin whistles that Nyanta, Shiroe, and Naotsugu own.

Charasin and another member are seen in their warehouse, discussing the increasing difficulty of gathering ingredients in this world. Many players have switched to crafting because fighting monsters in your own body is incredibly scary.

Inside the Crescent Moon Alliance guild hall, Akatsuki is being coddled by Henrietta again before a meeting between the main crafting guild's leaders and the Crescent Moon Alliance's. Maryelle uses her previous relationship with Charasin to meet with him first at the cafe "Dragon's Nest." After some haggling, he is convinced by Maryelle and Henrietta to provide ingredients for the Crescent Moon refreshment stand for 30,000 gold. Michitaka and Rodrick, both representing their guilds, arrive to continue discussions on a more important issue.

In Hamelin's guild hall, Minori is doing forced crafting labor. Minori provides her perspective on the world as she flashes back to the first few days of the Apocalypse. One day, while questing with Touya, the pair is attacked by Smash's Party and is PKed. They revive at the Cathedral and while despairing they are approached by someone who wants them to join a guild. It was a member of Hamelin, and because they agreed, they are now stuck in this situation.

Henrietta and Maryelle ask for a five million gold investment, something that has been unheard of in Elder Tale. The sheer magnitude of the investment makes the guild leaders think they are giving money towards a legendary new quest that they do not know about and in exchange, they are buying the "new" methods of preparing food that Crescent Moon uses along with all of their recipes. They are told that Shiroe, the "Villain in Glasses", is the mastermind behind this plan, which seals the deal for the guild leaders. The three guilds collectively agree to provide the five million.

Touya and Minori talk about Shiroe and how they both wanted to be more like him. In the next scene, Henrietta and Maryelle are resting from the strenuous negotiations when Naotsugu, Nyanta, and Akatsuki arrive with sweets. When asked about Shiroe, Nyanta replies that he had faith in the two ladies, causing Henrietta to call him a "true Villain in Glasses."

That night, Isaac is seen with some of his guild members along the side of a cliff, telling them that they would split up for the night's training. Rezarick asks him about the invitation, to which Isaac replies that he's less worried about the invitation and more about Shiroe. Here, it is shown that Rezarick, like Takayama Misa, was aware of the meeting between the smaller guilds. At D.D.D's guild hall, Krusty decides to cancel the next raid in favor of attending the meeting, also because of Shiroe's hand in the matter. At the same time, Shiroe uses telepathy to talk to Minori indicating that he will make a move to save her soon, and she resolves to follow in Shiroe's footsteps.