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.

Shopping District 8
Charasin, the guild master of the Shopping District 8, and his assistant Taro 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 one's own body is incredibly scary. For that reason, Charasin states that they can't lose this opportunity.

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."

Maryelle explains to Charasin that they need help to storage ingredients, so he asks for the quantity and the price, what Henrietta give to Charasin that after analyze constat that it is a good deal, but he is convinced that can make a better deal. As Charasin presses them to reveal the secret behind Crescent Moon's "new recipes," Maryelle remembers Shiroe's words: she only need smile while Henrietta dealt with the negotiations.

Charasin proposed a union between the Crescent Moon Alliance and Shopping District 8, but is interrupted by Henrietta, who informs him of the arrival of Michitaka, the guild master of the Oceanic Systems, and Roderick, the guild master of the Roderic Merchant Guild, who would also be doing negotiations with Crescent Moon Refreshment Stand. He had simply been let in early because of the ties he and Maryelle back when they were new players. Under pressure, Charasin negotiates with them and accepts to provide ingredients for Crescent Moon for 30,000 gold, in order to have a chance in the negotiations.

Minori's side
In Hamelin's guild hall, Minori is doing forced crafting labor. She has received numerous calls from Shiroe since that day and he has made many friends. Minori realizes that even though they are in the same world their situations are the opposite.

Minori provides her perspective on the world as she flashes back to the first few days of the Catastrophe. She was afraid and desperate, while Tohya was very happy about the opportunity to walk and run in this world, having fun with new experiences instead of crying like her. They realize that they are still receiving EXP Pots, encouraged by that Tohya convinces Minori to explore the world.

One day, while they were exploring, the pair is attacked by Dread Pack and they got killed. They revive at the Cathedral, only to discover that they have lost all their items and gold. Only in that moment do they remember Shiroe's advice about keeping their valuables in the bank. 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. For that reason, Minori believes that they don't deserve to be rescued by Shiroe.

Production Guilds
Michitaka and Roderick arrive to continue discussions on a more important issue. Henrietta prepares herself for the reunion because this is her battle and she can't fail with her friends, so she starts the reunion giving an explanation the motive because Charasin was invited earlier it was for Shopping District 8 provide ingredients for the Crescent Moon Refreshment Stand. After reveal this information Henrietta analyses their reactions and notes that Michitaka is well-respected due to this strength and strong will, but his weak point is his lack of subtlety, while Roderick  is quite calculating, and very much like Shiroe, though he lacks Shiroe's boldness.

Henrietta remembers Shiroe instruction that they would need to sell their "new" methods of preparing food that Crescent Moon uses along with all of their recipes, despite the fact that after the reveal this would be the the easiest thing in the world, so they couldn't reveal it before the end of the negotiations. But Shiroe stated that it was an advantage since the production guilds would want profit and the Crescent Moon was the perfect bait, giving the advantage of the negotiation with Henrietta that could what information give, what information don't give, but she couldn't lie since this would damage the negotiation.

Henrietta reveal that they need help for a big operation, what make Roderick state that they wanted to make some quest, what Henrietta think that she wasn't lying, but them that haven't understand. In this moment Henrietta decide to tell how the Crescent Moon is organized, telling them that Shiroe, the "Villain in Glasses", is the mastermind behind this plan, what surprises them,and give strength to Henrietta's words.

Meanwhile Shiroe splashes and Akatsuki asks if he is sick, what he replies that he doesn't know if is possible to get sick in this world.

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. The guild masters start to think that they can't have big profit if they invest in this project.

During this time Maryelle offers a new sweet made with ingredients from level 85, what make them think that they have new recipes from level 90, in this moment Henrietta talk that after the negotiations she would give to them. The three guilds collectively agree to provide the money.

Prelude for the Conference
Tohya asks for notices of Shiroe to Minori, he then tells that another day he saw Shiroe, but he couldn't call for his help, because he doesn't deserve the right Shiroe for rescue them 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.

Trivia

 * Changes from the light novel:
 * Maryelle and Henrietta do not change outfits like they did in The Knights of Camelot or in Honey Moon Logs. Maryelle wore a white blouse and long mermaid skirt with a shawl, while Henrietta wore a monotone dress and a black ribbon in her hair.
 * An extra couple of seconds is given to the end of Henrietta and Charasin's negotiations; here, Henrietta gives him an initial offer of 60,000 gold and he lowers it to 50,000 before she lowers it one last time to 30,000 gold. In the light novel, Charasin set his price at 50,000 and Henrietta lowered it to 40,000 gold.