Pandora of Fantasy And Reality Chapter 56

The Queen’s Shield And Staff

――Four o’clock in the morning.

Akito woke up like usual and looked toward the VR machine at the corner of his room.

Yesterday, he told Mariela and Alfie that he might not login, but he still woke up at this time regardless of that.

Today was Sunday.

The internet was filled with topic about the defensive battle at the  Capital of Temperance, and yet Akito wasn’t feeling good at all.

He simply stood up and headed toward the bathroom.

He tidied up himself and sat down on the bed. Now the time was 4:45.

He planned to take his time in cleaning up himself, but apparently  the habit of finishing up before five o’clock had been implanted into  him.

Should he login? Or not?

He pondered, and then…….

「……Well, I’ll logout if Alfie and Mariela aren’t there.」

He muttered that and reached out toward his headset.

The morning and evening had become really cold at this time of year.

Akito pulled a thick blanket over his body so he wouldn’t get cold and logged in.

◇

The Capital of Temperance.

The defensive battle had ended and the attitude of the elves toward other races had become far more tolerant.

Though Clara still ran away when she saw an orc when they ran to each other at the plaza.

Ponsuke looked around and found two people standing nearby.

Mariela waved her hand. Alfie was also waving her two hands energetically.

(Were they waiting for me? No, perhaps not.)

They joined up, then both Mariela and Alfie spoke to Ponsuke.

「Ponsuke, let’s relax and have fun today.」

「That’s right. Our equipments are in tatters, and our items are all  used up. For now we should party hard to celebrate our success in  entering the top ranking too.」

Their temporary guild still hadn’t gotten disbanded.

Ponsuke was feeling down after the battle ended, so the others considerately left the matter alone.

「……You two, sorry.」

Ponsuke apologized. Alfie smiled to him.

「I don’t really mind. You and I are friends after all.」

Mariela elbowed Alfie. Mariela smiled and asked a question while Alfie was holding her stomach in agony.

「Why wasn’t my name included there?」

Alfie’s complexion was pale, but she smiled fearlessly.

「You know why. Do you want to have a go? I don’t mind settling the score right here you know?」

The two’s hands moved toward their respective weapon. Just before a fight could break out in that place,

Nanako came running and hugged Ponsuke.

「Ponsuke-san!」

「Nanako-chan.」

Sierra and Guruguru also arrived after her.

And then Sololy along with Blaze’s party also arrived.

Lighter and the other artisans also gathered here.

「Everyone, what’s the matter?」

Blaze explained to Ponsuke in everyone’s place.

「No, well……how should I say it, we secured first rank in the event  this time. And about the rewards from it, everyone received rare items.  And that’s fine and all, but the problem is the guild reward.」

Sololy spoke frankly.

「It’s a rare item for guild use, the type with effect that work  passively just by owning it. With that there is a large merit with  staying as this guild’s member.」

What Sololy meant was that it would be better for the guild to stay  running instead of getting disbanded. It seemed that everyone here was  thinking of the same thing.

Blaze also folded his arms and considered.

「It’s a reward from a large scale quest, and its effect is amazing  unlike paid item. Ponsuke-kun’s friend, Rook-kun wasn’t it? He also  obtained a guild item and jumped in joy.」

Ponsuke put his hand on his chin and thought.

「No, but this is a temporary guild, so I never thought until that far. ……Is the effect really that amazing?」

He was told to look at his status screen. Ponsuke’s eyes widened when he saw the guild tab.

Their guild’s size was small, with that the guild benefits itself were all insignificant.

The guild would give them some money every day, in an amount that was equal to chump change.

The members’ status also got increased very slightly.

They would get some discount if they bought item from NPC’s shop.

Guild members would have easier time to do combo. That was all.

But the [Queen’s Shield], the reward that they were given as  decoration in their guild had the effect of increasing the guild’s scale  by two levels higher.

In other words, the guild benefits also had become considerable.

Also, the guild master Ponsuke obtained a special skill to strengthen his guild members.

The skill’s name was [Queen’s Protection].

It was a very excellent skill.

Lighter pleaded at Ponsuke.

「This is an item that cannot be traded. Ponsuke-kun, can you keep the  guild running for a while? Even us have gotten skill that we cannot  disregard.」

Many of the players with production job weren’t good with combat.

For those players, being able to have easier time in battle to gather materials would be a great benefit.

Furthermore there was also benefit that the fund used for material gathering would be decreased somewhat.

Lighter seemed to be very happy with that.

「Look, we have all gathered like this, but we aren’t thinking of joining a large guild somewhere, so this is a chance!」

Alfie was feeling slightly put off.

「Lighter, you’re too desperate.」

Ponsuke fell into thought, but then the orc group appeared with enraged expression.

「Ponsuke-kun! What in the world have you done!」

「――Eh?」

The orcs were looking seriously angry.

Even Ponsuke couldn’t hide his bewilderment when faced with such rare occurrence.

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.

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The audience hall.

The new queen, the little girl [Meer] was sitting on the throne while her legs were dangling back and fro.

「It’s good that you have arrived, hero Ponsuke.」

Ponsuke looked troubled from being called a hero. It seemed that  Ponsuke and co who were in the possession of Queen’s Shield were getting  treated as heroes at the Capital of Temperance.

Naturally the members of his guild, his comrade were also considered as heroes.

The attitude of the NPCs were blatantly different from before.

「Err, your majesty?」

Ponsuke turned his gaze toward the orcs behind him who were looking at him with expectation. Then he pleaded to the queen.

「Can you make it so the treatment toward orc can return back to be more extreme than before?」

Meer tilted her head. Perhaps she never thought that she would be requested for something like that.

「Meer doesn’t get it.」

She replied like that.

The orcs fell into despair.

「Goddamit! She’s cuteeeee!」

「Even though I wanted to be scorned by the new queen! Even though I wanted her to step on me!」

「What do you mean hero! Give it back. Give back our paradise!」

Elf had bad affinity with orc. Their attitude was also really bad in accordance to that.

The orcs enjoyed that. The Capital of Temperance was like a paradise for them.

However, they got revered anywhere as hero after the defensive battle. They couldn’t enjoy this capital anymore like before.

They had tried chasing after Clara at the plaza and cornered her to  ask her to punch them, but apparently the NPC prostrated toward them  instead.

『My deepest apologies for all my horrible treatments to the honorable heroes until nowwwww!』

Clara prostrated while crying. In respond the orcs also prostrated while crying and said.

『Please don’t say that and act like before again!』

The orcs created such incomprehensible sight of orc and elf prostrating to each other.

Their hard work caused them to lose their paradise.

「Even contacting the dev is pointless. Now even the remaining small hope……is gone.」

「Our utopia cannot be found here anymore.」

「Let’s go. The time has come for us to move on.」

The orcs got back on their feet and left as they pleased with unsteady footsteps.

They had experienced a deep sorrow.

(……What the hell you guys.)

Even though they understood that it would be impossible anyway, they  believed in the unlikely possibility and asked Ponsuke to meet the  queen. It was simply a bother for Ponsuke.

Ponsuke sighed. And then he decided to leave the audience hall.

Then Meer called out to Ponsuke.

「Ponsuke, can I have a word with you.」

「……Eh?」

Ponsuke thought that it was another event. Meer ordered her retainer to bring her the staff. It was the staff that Shela had.

「The previous queen left behind a will to bestow this to you. Please accept our earnest thanks for defeating the earth dragon.」

Meer smiled to him. Ponsuke could see a vestige of Shela from her.

It hurt.

He accepted the queen’s staff and it became a [Guild Item] ――in other words, it was an item that strengthened the guild.

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Capital of Hope.

Ponsuke and co booked a bar and celebrated the success of earth dragon subjugation.

Because Ponsuke had received another guild item, Lighter started to talk passionately about how their guild should be continued.

「Ponsuke-kun. Listen well, this is a chance.」

「Lighter-san, are you drunk?」

Nanako and Sierra were sitting side by side at the table of the  bewildered Ponsuke. They were commenting about the food to each other.

Guruguru was looking at those two with exasperation.

「Sierra-chan, this one is tasty.」

「This one too. Ah, let’s try ordering this one next.」

「I can’t believe that you two are eating so much. I feel full just from watching.」

Sololy was intentionally sitting at the corner, outside the group that was having a good time. Ponsuke headed toward his table.

「Sololy-san, you aren’t going to drink with everyone?」

Sololy was taking small sips of the juice in his glass.

「Ponsuke-kun, I already told you. I love solitude. The more the  people around me have fun, the more my solitude grows even more  staggering. I’m also getting a headache thinking whether I should remain  in the guild or leave.」

(This person is also an incomprehensible fellow.)

Even Sololy seemed to find the prospect of staying as guild member to  be attractive, because the benefits from the guild item would be really  useful for solo player.

He wanted to get those merits no matter what considering that he was going to continue playing solo even after this.

But, could he become a true solo player if he joined a guild?

Sololy continued to be wrecked with indecision.

Blaze was having fun talking with his friends and the other guild  members. People were naturally gathering around him, as expected from a  party leader.

And then――.

「Line up you pigs!」

Alfie and Mariela were being surrounded and worshipped by the orcs.

「That’s right. We already have our own queen here.」

「There’s nothing happier than this.」

「Aa, I can feel her fist reverberating until my bone.」

Ponsuke ignored the ecstatic orc group and looked at the happy guild members. He thought.

(Well, I guess it’s fine to keep this guild running.)

Like this, it was decided that the guild [Ponsuke and the Merry Bunch] would keep running.

◇

Sunday evening.

Akito got into the pool at the fitness club. He then got out and sat down on the bunch to take a breather.

The trainer looked puzzled when he saw Akito’s time.

「Your body has formed really well but, you’re still not there yet in the water.」

Akito had a towel hanging on his shoulder. His body had become more refined than before.

「W-well, this is my first time swimming like this.」

He was running out of breath from swimming a lot just now. He looked around.

The trainer was a bit free while thinking of a training menu for Akito.

The gender ration here was about thirty percent male and seventy percent female.

Two women who seemed to be university student got out from the pull and sat down on a bench.

His gaze was drawn toward their chest, but as expected he thought  that it would be bad to star and forcefully turned his gaze toward the  floor. Water dripped down on the floor.

「Well, I’ll set a target for you to achieve. You can use this pool  anytime you like. Even so, your body build is really different from  before. I thought that you would be able to build your body quickly  because you’re still young, but this is more than I expected.」

Akito had been feeling how he was getting stronger rapidly since he started going into this fitness club.

He felt glad that he came here. He was grateful to his friend Riku.

「Thanks to that I don’t get tired easily now.」

「That’s good. But, remember to not force yourself too much.」

He finished talking with the trainer and went to change clothes.

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.

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The changing room.

The two university students were changing from swimsuit to their clothes while talking about Akito.

The one with distinctive long purple hair was [Kisaragi Reona].

She had a nice body, but she was giving off an impression as a harsh woman.

The one talking to her was her friend, [Hazuki Yumi].

「Hey Leona. That boy was amazing wasn’t he? His muscles, like his abs were ripped.」

She was a woman with blue hair and red eyes. She had a gentle and carefree atmosphere.

Reona was exasperated with Yumi who was like that.

「You were doing nothing but watching man again? How about you exercise a little. Squeeze down those huge breasts too.」

She intentionally grabbed that breast with her hand, but she her fingers sank in without being able to grasp it at its entirety.

Yumi hid her breasts shyly.

「What’s the problem with that? Just watching is free.」

Reona wore a T-shirt and drew out her slightly wet hair from under her clothes. Then she started arranging her hair style.

「Sensei has his eyes on that boy, so he might be quite talented. I saw his movement and he seems cut out for moving his body.」

Yumi also wore her clothes in a hurry and looked at Reona.

「You keep saying those things to me Reona, but you yourself have never gone out with a man.」

Reona was unwavering.

「In my case, I’ll marry anyway when I graduate. It’ll be rude to the man if someone betrothed like me go out with them.」

「That’s heavy how you bring up betrothal when talking about going out with man.」

The two finished changing clothes. They carried their bags and walked toward the door.

It was then Reona remembered something and opened her mouth.

「Ah, that’s right. Reona, do you know about Pandora?」

Reona spoke without looking at Yumi’s face.

「I know from watching the news. It’s a VR game right? I heard that  game is unchallenged in that field with how big its development cost and  development period are.」

Yumi shrugged.

「That’s not what I’m talking about. Want to try playing it together  with me? It looks like everyone around us is also playing it, and it  looks like you can relax in there.」

Reona looked at Yumi’s face.

「Now that you mention it, the time inside the game is 24 times longer. No, it’s 48 times now huh, that Pandora.」

Yumi also nodded.

「Those who aren’t playing it are fewer than those playing it. So how  about taking this opportunity to play it, so we won’t get out of the  loop with everyone. Right now it’s also easy to get your hand on VR  machine.」

Reona nodded. Yumi hugged her from behind.

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Monday.

Akito was looking inside the room at the back of his workplace.

It was a cramped room for the fulltime employee. It had a PC in there for managing various things.

He could hear angry yell and shout from inside there.

The area at the back of the store was soundproofed, so the voice  didn’t reach until the store. But Akito who was in the middle of his  break could hear it. It was unpleasant to listen to.

(I wonder what happened with Kurita-san?)

.

.

.

Kurita was staring at the computer’s screen. His face was almost pressed on it with how hard he was staring.

「What. What the hell is this!」

The computer was playing a video that recorded Pandora players who  did malicious act. It was exposing their action for everyone to see.

The video caught Kurita’s avatar, Zane doing malicious act in great  detail. In addition it even included the moment when he got curbstomped  by the orcs.

Looking at the comment section, there had been several hundred entries there.

『This player is a whale but he isn’t even in the ranking. Trash.』

『He was too malicious I can’t even laugh. We would have easier time  if only the orcs could whittle the skin surface more at that time.』

『Incompetent is incompetent even after whaling huh.』

『Just what were they trying to do?』

『I’ll never go as far as spending money and trying to do something like that.』

『Zane-kun, you got found out! Change your avatar and try again!』

There were also even more vicious comments there. Kurita scratched his head with his hands roughly.

「Shit, shit! Do you know how much I had spent on this. I didn’t know  that the guild item’s effect is that good! If only I knew, I’d be more  efficient……fuck!」

His guild’s ranking was more than 5 ranks below the lowest rank of the guild that could receive the guild item.

Only guilds in the rank of 1000 and above could get the rare item.

The rank of Kurita’s guild was 1005.

He received participation reward, but with that rank he didn’t receive anything else.

The money that he invested for that event was several hundred thousand yen.

After spending that much money, normally he should be able to reach  until rank 200 if he did the event normally. And if he was lucky he  would be able to aim even higher.

But now not only his guild got low rank, even his avatar that he had invested a lot of money into got exposed like this.

With this he wouldn’t be able to play properly even if he logged in.

In fact, he got attacked or got kept at a distance by other players  when he logged in. He was puzzled by that and checked the internet, but  he never thought it would be like this…….

「Do you know just how much money I’ve invested into this. My avatar……the strongest avatar!」

Tears spilled down from Kurita’s eyes.

The only thing that was left for him now was a huge amount of debt.

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