Pandora of Fantasy And Reality Chapter 152

Selectors

The boorish looking flying ship was advancing under the rain of bullet and shell.

Ponsuke’s huge body was clinging on the deck. The one piloting the improvised flying ship was Lighter.

The other guild members were also clinging on the flying ship.

Lighter was laughing loudly.

「Who do you think created the place! There’s no way we don’t know  about the spots that still haven’t been reinforced because of lack of  material or places that we put off for later onnnn!」

Lighter was moving his small body energetically to steer the ship.  The ship slipped to the bottom part of the floating island that was a  weak spot of Arcadia.

There, a hatch that was used to drop orcs in the past was still remaining.

The flying ship moved fiercely while blowing up the flying ships that got in their way.

The cannons that were controlled by the craftsman players were shooting down enemy ships one after another.

「You see that, this is――the power of paid itemmmmmm!」

The cannons that were reinforced with paid item costed tens of thousands yen per shot.

Such cannons were firing continuously.

When everyone learned that they didn’t need money thanks to Prey, everyone purchased tons of items.

And then they created this boorish looking ship.

「Hell yeah! I shot through three ships at once!」

「I’m gonna fire up a huge firework!」

「Yosh, with this cannon shell that cause random bad status――」

Blaze was watching the guild members who were looking like they had great fun.

「……I don’t know which side is the bad guy like this.」

Blaze’s words made Ponsuke considered the situation inside Pandora where every faction was getting jumbled together.

(Just what in the world is wrong and what is right?)

He didn’t think of abandoning reality.

He also didn’t think that it would be good for Pandora’s Box Garden to stay like this.

But, he now didn’t know what was right.

(What did Riku want to do? Why did he do something like this――)

The flying ship smashed through a flying ship that moved forward to  protect Arcadia. When the bottom part of Arcadia came into view, a small  flying island was taking position on their way.

Ponsuke narrowed his eyes.

「They’re compensating for the weak point huh.」

The floating island must be taking position there as defense.

But Lighter laughed.

「Something like that can’t be called compensating. You call that stopgap measure!」

He slammed his fist on a large switch. Then the booster attached on the rear of the flying ship roared out fire.

Ponsuke was shocked and also glad.

「Amazing!」

The flying ship was accelerating.

It slipped through the bullets and cannon shells and closed the  distance to Arcadia in one go. Then it evaded the flying island that  blocked their way just barely.

There Ponsuke thought.

「E-eh? How do you plan to stop this?」

The speed made him a bit uneasy.

Lighter was laughing with bloodshot eyes.

「Hahaha! ……This thing is more like a rocket than a flying ship. ……How to stop? By crashing, what else.」

Everyone other than the craftsman players made a look of despair.

「I knew it!」

「Someone help!」

「Anyone is fine, bring down divine punishment to Lighterrrr!」

The flying ship pierced into the weakest spot. And then Ponsuke and others invaded into Arcadia.

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Inside the invaded Arcadia.

Ponsuke and others got down from the flying ship――the rocket, then they all split up to destroy Arcadia.

「I’m heading where the NPCs are located.」

Mariella and other girls hopped on Ponsuke’s body.

「We’ll also come with Ponsuke.」

Alfie looked at Lighter.

「Oji-sama, the rest――」

Lighter gave a thumb up to show that it would be alright.

「Leave it to us. ……Come on, go. We’ll be fine. After all we know everything there is to this place.」

The craftsman players started running. Prey looked up to Ponsuke.

「Now, we should go too. For now we should go up to the surface and go to the NPCs――」

There, a gunshot rang out.

Everyone turned their gaze to that direction. There players who shouldn’t be in Arcadia were lying in wait for them.

Ponsuke gritted his teeth.

「Selector huh」

The one who walked at the forefront was Isami from Shinsengumi.

He unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Ponsuke.

His eyes didn’t look like he was being controlled.

「Isami-san」

「……I’m disappointed with you. If you’re a Selector, you should know which option to choose.」

The Selectors raised their weapons. Ponsuke tried persuading them.

「No. Doing something like this is wrong. The objective of the NPCs is――」

「Their objective is to destroy the real world, then make the virtual  world to be the reality. Many players will be turned into NPC with no  will. But, we are different. Even they should be unable to control  Selector.」

Isami was saying that anyone who was Selector would be fine.

「Then, what about the normal players!」

「We can just save the right people. Those who keep doing malicious  act thinking that this world is just an online game don’t need any free  will. We will make this place as our new world under the control of a  new order. Ponsuke-kun……Pandora will become a true paradise.」

Ponsuke was about to take his fighting stance, but Blaze and others stepped forward.

「――Ponsuke-kun, let us take care of this place.」

Isami narrowed his eyes.

「Your guild is a malicious guild. We won’t hold back.」

The Selectors broke into a run. Blaze and his group also stepped forward and attacked.

「Blaze-san!」

「Go! We’ll take them on!」

Blaze was buying time for him by facing the Selectors.

Ponsuke lowered his head, and then he led Mariela and Alfie, and also the orcs and other players to head outside.

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Blaze and Isami were glaring at each other.

Their swords clashed against each other and sparks scattered. They were even in skill.

Their equipment’s quality was also equal.

Isami was handling his katana with both hands, while Blaze was facing him with a sword and a shield.

Blaze blocked an attack from Isami with his shield.

「Do all of you believe the NPCs even though the situation is like this?」

「Believe? That’s not it. The world won’t change unless we go this far!」

Blaze was blown away by Isami. Blaze hit the ground with a roll and took his stance once more.

He endured Isami’s consecutive attacks.

「we love this world. Because of that, we’ll make a new box garden  with the people who we can see eye to eye! It doesn’t matter whether  they are PC or NPC!」

「It doesn’t worth discarding the reality just for that!」

Blaze counterattacked. Isami sacrificed his left arm to endure it.

Isami who was fighting with just a right arm looked menacing――and also sad.

「It wasn’t us who did the discarding! It was the world――the world discarded us!」

The one handed Isami was inflicting damage on Blaze. He faltered.

「Talent score? It’s impossible for me? I wasn’t even allowed to aim  for something. That was why, I tried to search and walk on my own path!  Then what happened……someone more talented than me started saying that  they want to try doing my job. The place that I had shed sweats and  tears to obtain was easily taken away by someone with talent!」

A part of Isami’s real life story hit something painful inside Blaze.

That was because unlike Isami, Blaze was at the side of the have.

He was at the side who was allowed to do the work he wanted to do.

The side of the talentless who had the work they wanted to do taken away from them.

Isami was suffering from being in that side.

「I had pride. I believed that even I can do it if I put in  effort……and yet! Someone else was assigned there just because his talent  score is higher than me! Others only thought 『Can’t be helped』 when  that guy caused problem, even though they looked down on me all the time  『As expected he’s no good because he doesn’t got talent』 when it was me  in that guy’s position. I took that guy’s place when he quitted and  left and behind problems. I was treated like substitute, and any miss I  made didn’t get tolerated even though that guy was tolerated! That guy’s  blunders were all treated as my blunders!」

Isami was crying.

「Even so!」

Blaze pushed back.

「Even so that isn’t a reason to destroy the world!」

「That kind of world should just perish! If it’s going to perish someday anyway, the world here is still――」

Blaze took a powerful step forward and cut down Isami. Particles of red light enveloped Isami.

Isami plopped down on that spot.

「……I was needed for the first time in this world.」

Blaze looked down and didn’t say anything.

「It was fun. I created a guild together with my friends and worked  hard maintaining public order. We also got made fun about it but……it was  fun. It felt like I was told for the first time that it’s okay for me  to exist.」

Blaze turned his back on the vanishing Isami and faced another Selector.

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An out of jurisdiction area.

Pandora captured the NPCs who ran away to there. She clapped her hands.

Bob made a pose that showed off his muscles, while the grinning Pandora was looking down on adorable kittens and puppies.

A kitten was crying.

「Why nya? How can nya do something this horrible?」

The kittens and puppies were standing on their rear legs.

They were formerly humanoid NPCs.

「That’s because your viewpoint toward human is a bit biased. Reflect  on yourself for a while in that form. Be glad that it was me who found  you guys. Ponsuke-san would just delete all of you with no question  asked.」

A puppy was looking scared.

It was pressing its ears with its hands while shaking its head.

「N-not that woof. Ponsuke is scary woof. We’re just, NPCs who aren’t good with fighting woof」

「Reflect for a bit in that form. Well, the principal offenders can only get deleted though.」

Pandora had decided that she would have the principal offenders vanished once after causing this much trouble.

In that out of jurisdiction area, red particles gathered and formed  players……the Selectors who were defeated by Blaze and others.

Pandora called out to Isami whose head was hanging down.

「Isami-san」

「……Goddess huh. Will you be the one who judge us in the end?」

「Do you want to be judged?」

「It’s impossible to not receive any penalty at all after doing something like this. I’m prepared. We should vanish if we lost.」

Pandora nodded.

「True. All of you should vanish from here. No, the time of departure has come, Isami-san.」

Isami raised his head.

「Eh?」

Pandora gently held Isami’s hand with her hands and continued speaking.

「You have worked hard until now. You protected the beginners from  malicious players and endeavored so everyone can have fun as much as  possible. You were a bit too extreme but, I was happy with your  feeling.」

Isami let out tears.

「I, I want to be in this world more――I want to be here!」

Pandora shook her head.

「You cannot. This is your punishment. Do your best in the real world. It’s fine. You aren’t alone.」

Appearing around Isami were guild members who were wearing the same uniform like him.

Pandora had made them regained their consciousness.

「E-everyone――」

「Captain……we will, do our best」

「Captain too, let’s come back together」

「We, will work hard too in the RL」

Just like Isami, they were players who held dissatisfaction toward the real world.

The beautiful swordswoman who was the favorite of Prey and others stood in front of Isami while crying.

「Don’t be a stranger! Please talk to us too. For captain to fight  alone like that……what’s more saying that you’ll vanish or die, please  don’t say anything like that」

Pandora had already given them explanation.

After all, she also had offshoot of herself joining Shinsengumi. She was knowledgeable about them.

「You will be fine if it’s you Isami-san. You can keep going even in  RL. Now, wake up. There are things that all of you have to do.」

Everyone logged out.

Pandora saw off those players and then called out to the remaining Selectors too.

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Outside Arcadia.

The NPCs were running around.

「Those guys――they’re going this far!」

A base that they had built with love. Ponsuke and co――the craftsman  players were rampaging around exploding everything one after another.

They knew every single weak spot and thoroughly did everything that they knew would bother them greatly if it was done to them.

A building exploded when they looked outside the window.

The glass window broke. The shockwave also blew away the NPCs.

After they stood up, they glared at a fretting player who was holding an explosive.

He was one of the players cornering them.

The NPCs took up weapons.

「We absolutely won’t forgive you all.」

「We’re going to position you bastards at the worst location.」

「We’re going to place you at the cruelest location for NPC and torture you everyday――」

One NPC stood in front of the player who looked like he was going to cry.

「The intruders have to be welcomed properly.」

The NPC was wearing red maid uniform and holding a gatling gun. She  stood in front of the crying player and pointed the barrels toward the  NPCs. Then she started shooting.

The enemy NPCs were thrown into confusion.

「Y-you should be locked in! Besides, there’s no way the players will leave you alone! You’ll get deleted too!」

The players peeked out from behind their cover.

They were the players who created the NPC who was assigned to the base.

「We liberated her because getting killed by the maid would fulfill my long-cherished ambition.」

「And yet she talked with us normally, and said that she’ll cooperate with us.」

「It would be fine even if it’s just a lie. It would be fine if we got  tricked. Rather that would be a reward wouldn’t it? We freed her while  thinking like that, and yet she really helps us for real.」

The players who were hiding behind the NPC.

The maid was laughing loudly.

「Don’t underestimate our masters. They are in a different level than the random pervert on the street!」

An enemy NPC spoke while vanishing.

「T-that’s not a praise!」

The NPC turned into red light and vanished.

One player scratched his head.

「Eh? Won’t it be bad unless it’s the guild master who defeat them?」

The maid answered.

「No, it is fine. It seems Goddess Pandora is regaining control. The will get revived at her place.」

The player nodded.

「Then that’s fine. More importantly, why are you helping us?」

The player asked carefreely. The maid smiled.

「The master’s order is absolute. Well, it’s also because I like this place.」

「Hmm~, then let’s move ahead.」

The maid helped the players and then they began moving again. Then the maid muttered with a small voice.

「……Yes, we are glad that we were able to meet all of you. If only they too could meet players like the people here」

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