Nureha

Nureha (濡羽) is a Fox Tail Enchanter-Courtesan, the guild master of Plant Hwyaden, and a contemporary of Shiroe's. In the months following the Catastrophe, she became the ruler of Minami after purchasing several key structures in the city, foremost being Minami's Cathedral. With her control over these important structures, she keeps the Adventurer inhabitants in-line, at the same time using these to extend her influence over the Lander nobles and, in a move duplicated nowhere else, the Guard system of the city.

Her Overskill is Overlay and its evolved version, To Somewhere. She uses it to create her disguise, a Lander novelist named Dariella (ダリエラ).

In the old world, her name was Touko Hagio ( 萩尾透子はぎお　とおこ, Hagio Tōko), and she is an unemployed 25-year-old woman.

Appearance
Nureha is a curvaceous woman who uses her appealing looks to attract men in conjunction with her Courtesan subclass to get people to do her bidding. She has wavy black hair and white skin, with a indigo-black dress made of crow's feathers.

In the light novel, her tail is black like her hair with a white tip, but it is depicted as golden-brown in the anime and other subsequent media.

In her Dariella disguise, she either has blond hair (anime, volume 8) or black hair (volume 5), but still maintains her alluring looks. She is seen with a yellow dress and hat in the anime.

Personality
In the real world, Nureha didn't have a pleasant life. She was frequently bullied at school and was even forced to participate in compensated dating to pay for living expenses (the latter part was only hinted at in the anime but said explicitly in the novels).. She started playing Elder Tales as an escape from her situation, and became highly demure and aloof because of it.

As a result of her painful past, Nureha is a very lonely woman who suffers from cripplingly-low self-esteem. She is easily manipulated by Indicus, who often verbally abuses her by saying no-one will ever love her. However, Nureha is also highly charismatic, as she capable of controlling almost the entire population of Minami and is able to use all of the money and resources as she sees fit, making her a very dangerous political foe. In addition, she eventually learns to stand up against Indicus, ordering her and all of Plant Hwyaden to restore normal relations with Eastal. She also begins to take a much greater part in running Minami on her own, rather than as Indicus' puppet. Ultimately, however, this act of defiance leads to Indicus starting a civil war.

Nureha has an obsession with Shiroe, which was born when he complimented her for her talents in the game. Shiroe, however, has no memory of ever doing such a thing, and knows her only as the "Ruler of the West" and the leader of Plant Hwyaden. He also claims that he can give her what she wants more effectively as an enemy than as a friend. However, Nureha gladly accepts this and vows to make Shiroe hers one day.

Nureha can also be rather impulsive at times, causing a panic in the Ten-Seat Conference after her sudden disappearance, when she ends up going to observe the area and joins Touya's Party. Despite her disguise and airs, Touya realizes that there was something about her that was "off." He later came to the conclusion that she was merely putting on the mask of a happy woman to hide her pain.

Before the Catastrophe
In the real world, Nureha had an unpleasant life. She was bullied at school, oftentimes called a "girl who brings misfortune," and lived in a poor, abusive household. When hiding from her family, she had to drink "soup" with pieces of trash mixed in, and walk barefoot because her belongings were hidden away from her. She started playing Elder Tale as an escape from her situation, and created a demure and aloof online persona. It was during this period that she got to know Shiroe, and after partying with him several times, formed a girlish infatuation for him due to his combination of kindness and professionalism.

A conversation between several members of the Ten Seats Council reveals that Nureha was a complete city girl with rather particular tastes in comfort.

The Catastrophe
Things came crashing down the moment Elder Tales became reality. With her only refuge from the real world becoming reality, Nureha, already emotionally unstable to begin with, broke down completely. Terrified that her "soiled true self" might be found out by Shiroe, she became vulnerable to Indicus' manipulations.

Within days after the Catastrophe, Plant Hwyaden took control of both Minami and Nakasu, thanks to Nureha's seduction and manipulation of the Lander population.

Return of the Goblin King arc
After the Round Table Council's expedition to wipe out the monsters in Sand Leaf is a success, she appears at the Ancient Palace of Eternal Ice in her Dariella disguise, implicitly telling the Lander children about Shiroe's World-class magic before skipping away.

Libra Festival arc
Nureha, in her Dariella disguise, wanders about the Libra Festival and watches Lord Marves' antics ensue in an attempt to discredit the Round Table Alliance.

After it fails, she encounters Shiroe in a discreet location, pretending to be a traveling writer coming in Ooshima's place. He immediately sees through her disguise, however, so she switches to her next tactic—persuade and seduce him into joining her in Minami while telling a story about her past. Ultimately, though, he rejects her and tells her that it would be better for them to be enemies. With that, she disappears to return to Minami but promises that she'll make Shiroe hers.

Gold of the Kunie arc
In volume 7, it is revealed how Nureha came to power. By using her game avatar's alluring appearance and her Courtesan subclass, she swindled other players out of their money by turning them into her devoted followers with her lies of security. Her popularity continued to spread as she brought Lander nobles onto her side, and managed to buy out the Royal Guards a month after the Catastrophe occurred. Using this power and her skills, she brought the Lander nobles to her side. With the wealth the nobles brought, she bought out the Cathedral in Minami.

Route 43 arc
As "Dariella," Nureha joins Touya's Party out of boredom with her guild's affairs. However, despite her disguise, Touya is aware that there is something deeper about her, and that "Dariella" was suffering. During the attack of Nightshades and Wyverns, she was separated from the others. Taking this opportunity to shed her disguise, she secretly assists in the defense of the town for Touya's sake, aware that the boy had partially seen through her. Using the Freezer build, she engages in Crowd Control by using Astral Hypno on a Wyvern that had spotted her, causing the Wyvern to crash into an Odysseia Knights Druid, killing them both.

After learning that this was Mizufa's doing, she orders Roreil Dawn to kill the Nightshades that had been summoned. Just like how Mizufa wanted to be a queen where she could cause destruction, Nureha wanted to be a queen of a place where she could be happy. Deciding to help Shiroe's kids, she thinks of hearing his voice again.

When the battle is over, she departs after bidding farewell to Touya's party. Rundelhaus teases Touya, thinking that the other boy was attracted to her, but in reality, Touya noticed that "Dariella" had gnawed on her nails in suffering.

Collapse of the Round Table
After Taliktan's attack on the entirety of Yamato and even parts of Yured, Nureha declares that Plant Hwyaden will open negotiations with the Round Table Alliance and the Eastal League of Free Cities. This greatly angers Indicus and the Westelande Senate, and a bitter war for supremacy between Nureha and Indicus' factions immediately engulfs Minami.

Celdesia Gazette
In the Log Horizon TRPG monthly Celdesia Gazette, "Dariella" has a column titled "Culture, Geography, and Folklore in Yamato".

Honey Moon Logs
In the Honey Moon Logs manga, Nureha turns out to be the mastermind behind the attacks on Marielle and Shouryuu&mdash;instigating the incidents where Marielle was placed under a curse by a ring while Shouryuu was PK'ed. The perpetrator of both, a level 90 Swashbuckler named Leoto, reports back to her after succeeding in his mission.

This is her only appearance in the spin-off, as she is never seen afterwards. However, the speed at which Leoto was able to report to her after PKing Shouryuu suggests that she was near Akiba at the time.

Log Horizon: West Wind Brigade
When Soujiro and the rest of the West Wind Brigade arrive at the Ancient Palace of Eternal Ice, Soujiro suddenly notices an ominous presence behind him while he was being surrounded by the Lander noblewomen. Immediately alarmed, he wastes no time in diving off the balcony towards the source, which reveals itself to be a deranged Nureha.

Log Horizon: New Adventure Land
Nureha is a recruitable character in the mobile game Log Horizon: New Adventure Land.

Trivia

 * Nureha is voiced by Chiwa Saitou, who previously voiced Maid Chief from Mamare's previous work, Maoyu. Ironically, Nureha is the one being served by a maid, and Indicus abuses her in a much more malevolent way than with Maou and Maid Chief.
 * Thematically, Nureha is very similar to the Lily Knight Captain. Both use their alluring bodies to manipulate men, particularly those of high stature, and both of them are hinted to have histories of either prostitution (Lily Knight) or enjo kousai (Nureha). However, while Lily Knight Captain is the Archbishop's subordinate, Nureha is technically the leader of her organization, even though Indicus usually uses her as a puppet leader.