The Gold of the Kunie

"Shiroe left Akiba in search of 8,000,000,000,000 gold coins, setting off for the vast north lands. But, what he found there was a warning of a large scale raid about to occur.

In Akiba's unstable situation, Shiroe's chosen raid members include the galactic idol Tetora, the leader of Silver Sword who refused to take part in the round table council, Massachusetts, and the man he defeated in Susukino who still hates him, Demiquas.

...Is everything really going to be alright?"

- Yen Press description

Log Horizon 7: The Gold of the Kunie is the seventh volume of the Log Horizon light novel series written by Mamare Touno. It takes place concurrently with the events in Lost Child of the Dawn.

The volume's events are adapted in episodes 2, 3, and 9-12 in the second season of the anime.

Chapters

 * 1) Shiroe in the North (profile: Naotsugu)
 * 2) Palm Again (profile: Demiqas)
 * 3) The Changing Field (profile: Tetora)
 * 4) Guild Master (profile: William Massachusetts)
 * 5) Consideration Friendship (profile: Shiroe)

Summary
Nureha lays on the ground in Minami, alone and unmotivated to do anything about the city, thinking about how foolish everything was and how easily-manipulated the Adventurers of Minami were. During this time, it is revealed that Indicus, a former member of the Debauchery Tea Party and now a fervent hater of Kanami, is really the one pulling the strings by reminding her of her past and telling her that Shiroe has no need for her. After Indicus leaves, Nureha tells herself that Indicus' assessment of Shiroe, whom the other woman deemed "useless," was wrong. At that time, Indicus goes to the Ten-Seat Council, discussing plans for Minami and learning from KR, another Tea Party member, that Shiroe was not in Akihabara for reasons unknown.

Meanwhile, Shiroe, Naotsugu, and Li Gan travel to a remote area in the north to negotiate with Kinjo, the same member of the Kunie clan whom Rayneshia spoke with in the previous volume, for 80 trillion Gold. Negotiations fail, but Kinjo confirms the presence of a new Raid that leads to unlimited gold at the Kunie clan's base of operations at the Depths of Palm, so they go towards Susukino to request for now-ruling guild Silver Sword's assistance.

While Shiroe requests William Massachusetts for help, Naotsugu and Li Gan meet the Cleric Tetora, who decides to help them out (and tease Naotsugu). At the same time, Demiqas, who still harbors a grudge towards Nyanta and Shiroe for that overwhelming defeat in the first month of the Catastrophe, barges into Shiroe and William's meeting. After being forced to stand down by William (who apparently overwhelmingly defeated the Monk in a duel), Tetora reveals in a conversation with Naotsugu and Li Gan that he's now married to a Lander woman, who keeps a tight leash on him. With the addition of Demiqas and Tetora to the raiding party, Shiroe and William barely gather enough members for a Full Raid, as many of Silver Sword's members have become demotivated from dying so many times. Shiroe, who had yet to experience death, is told by William that he would have to die in order to understand the demoralizing effect of death in this world.

The Full Party raid to challenge Abyssal Shaft travels to the Depths of Palm by foot, worrying Shiroe due to the amount of supplies it would use, although William does not seem to care. Although they become aware of the raid's difficulty, they believe that they would be able to defeat the Raid Boss. When they are fighting the Raid Boss, though, it turns out that the Bosses had gained intelligence; two other Raid Bosses come to the aid of the first, resulting in a party wipe.

Meanwhile, Krusty's and Isaac's group are off to finish the Return of the Goblin King event. Krusty and Takayama Misa walk along a path, noticing that the Goblins are training battle formations and strategies. While that is happening, the flavor text of items begins turning real, and Misa's scythe, which causes calamities, starts glowing ominously. Krusty immediately grabs it out of her hands when it creates a glow that engulfs Krusty, disappearing with him and shattering the bones in Misa's right arm.

Shiroe finds himself on Mare Tranquillitatis, and wanders through areas that he remembered from his childhood. He remembered his regrets from childhood, reminiscing on how foolish he was and how he always rejected other peoples' kindness. After some time, he finds himself on a beach, where he meets Akatsuki, who had just died against Enbart Nelles, and talks with her. They both harden their resolve, and depart by reviving.

Reviving at the entrance to Abyssal Shaft, William and the rest of his guild come to the realization that this world has rejected them, denying them from the raiding that they loved. Unable to think of anything to motivate his team, unable to move out of broken-heartedness and dejection, William ends up opening up about his feelings about this world. He reveals how he was a loner teenage student who didn't work well with his classmates and spent all his time playing Elder Tale, saying that his guildmates were his only friends and that raiding was the only thing he wanted to do. Telling them that he didn't care what this world threw at him, he determined to fight back and clear the raid, inspiring his teammates to do the same. Upon finishing

Shiroe, who was moved away from the others by Naotsugu who had revived earlier, listens in on William's speech with the others. Reflecting on how William was like a mirror of his own 16-year-old self, Shiroe determines to clear this raid because, as Tetora says, he wants them to win. Quickly coming up with a new battle plan, Shiroe declares he has a plan that has a 15% chance of working.

They decide to attempt the Raid one more time, spending a week to train and prepare for the battle. Shiroe and Naotsugu decide not to hold back and freely supply their rations to the group, and they share some bonding time. During the raid, again, two other Raid Bosses come to the aid of the first, and the first injures itself in order to spawn Mobs; however, in a last-ditch attempt, Demiqas throws Shiroe into the room where both Kinjo and the gold production was after the two make amends. Shiroe also successfully negotiates with him this time, and temporarily gains access to the gold he needs in order to buy all the important structures and open fields in the Yamato server and give it all back to the server so that no individual could now hold them, relieving the Round Table Alliance of the duty of maintaining the Guild Meeting Hall. However, he specifically leaves personal property out of the equation so that he wouldn't infringe on anybody else.

On Silver Sword's side, the Raid Party successfully cleared the raid after killing two of the three Raid Bosses, and William gave Shiroe a Phantasmal accessory as a token of thanks. Having successfully accomplished his goal, Shiroe's group returns to Akiba after William tells Shiroe to call upon his guild whenever necessary. Shiroe learned from Kazuhiko that Tetora is male (although it is unspecified whether it was Tetora's gender in the real world, or if the avatar, too, was also male), and she asks him to keep it a secret before requesting to join Log Horizon. Although she was sent by Kazuhiko, another Tea Party member now trying to reign in Indicus' regime, she truly wanted to join the guild on her own accord. He agrees, and the guild now has its Cleric.

Upon returning to Akiba, Shiroe is immediately hugged by Akatsuki, who herself had completed her first Raid battle. Tetora flirts with Naotsugu, who has yet to realize that Tetora is male, in front of Maryelle. Maryelle is still Naotsugu's one true love, though, and he has a Griffin-saddle-for-two that he enjoys teasing her with since she hates it.

Log Horizon

 * Shiroe
 * Naotsugu
 * Tetora

Silver Sword

 * William Massachusetts
 * Dinkuron

Plant Hwyaden

 * Nureha
 * Indicus
 * KR
 * Kazuhiko

Other

 * Demiqas
 * Li Gan
 * Krusty
 * Takayama Misa
 * Kinjo

Drama CD

 * Shiroe Seeks a Guild House
 * Not wanting to go create a Guild Hall in the Guild Hall Building, Shiroe searches around for a suitable location.


 * Krusty and Isaac's Duel
 * As Krusty trains in the forest at night, alone, Isaac appears. The red-haired Guild Master manages to persuade Krusty into a duel under the guise of a training session. As the battle heats up, the two start to move in for the kill when Soujiro Seta and some members of his guild interrupt the duel to have a hang-out spot.

Alternate Titles

 * Chinese: 供贄的黃金

Trivia

 * Illustrations of the Abyssal Shaft raid members were supposed to be added in the Appendix of the volume, but the editor forgot about them. To make up for it, the sketches and information were placed on Mamare's official site (the original site has since gone defunct, but the information was transferred to the TRPG site).
 * Yen On's original volume description used "Demikas" and "Tetra," but were later changed to "Demiquas" and "Tetora."