Pandora of Fantasy And Reality Chapter 37

Epilogue

The real world.

Akito was yawning while walking through the school’s corridor. He felt like the school was strangely noisy.

It was noisier than usual. The atmosphere of the students just felt bright.

(What? Did something happen?)

He entered his classroom. There three male students were gathering  around Riku. The three were talking noisily inside the classroom about  Pandora’s Box Garden.

「They finally did it!」

「There’s rumor that it’ll be Arrogance after Sloth. I’m curious how it will look like.」

「Or rather the Capital of Diligence feel somewhat stifling isn’t it?」

The three were each talking about Pandora’s Box Garden.

Riku was calming them while talking about the information that he knew.

「I’m working at VR café, so information come and goes quickly there.  It seems that the large scale update will be carried out at July, so the  game will fully start again at the end of July or August.」

The three boys were talking excitedly. Even a group of girls who heard about their talk were talking about Pandora’s Box Garden.

「He said August.」

「Ee~, we won’t be able to play for a month?」

「It’s fine. We have plan during that time anyway.」

Akito looked across the classroom. Practically all the students were playing Pandora’s Box Garden.

(This is……but, there are a lot of players here.)

Akito was standing at the door. Then a voice called out to him from behind.

「Can you move out of the way?」

「Eh? Ah, yes!」

He turned around and found Maya standing there.

「Thank you.」

Akito moved out of the way and Maya entered into the classroom. Then the noisiness inside the classroom decreased a little.

(I guess this topic doesn’t matter to the president.)

He thought that while walking toward his seat. Riku who was talking with the boys waved his hand a little to him.

He smiled and waved back, then the teacher entered the classroom.

「Be quiet. Even so, the school is noisier than usual today.」

A girl replied to the teacher.

「Don’t you know teacher? The clearing group liberated a world at Pandora.」

When he heard the topic once more like this, it wasn’t a subject that student should talk inside the school.

But the teacher laughed.

「Is that so?」

A boy teased the teacher.

「Teacher, are you perhaps a Pandora’s player? How about playing together next time?」

The teacher laughed while waving off the offer.

「Why do I have to be with you guys even inside the game too. I  understand your feeling, but remember to not be too noisy. Come on, roll  call.」

Akito silently thought as he listened to the laughs inside the classroom.

(So there are this many players even around me.)

Akito who hadn’t played Pandora for long felt a bit happy knowing that there were many players around him.

But, at the same time…….

(……I hope no one has seen the video.)

……He was also hoping that nobody here knew about his video.

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.

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At the part-time workplace.

Things had calmed down a little after the busy period inside the store had passed.

Akito was tidying up the snack shelves that some children had left in  a mess. Yakumo was putting the cash register in order refilling the  shopping bag.

The two were conversing while doing their work.

「Because of that everyone kept talking about Pandora the whole time.」

Looking back at this whole day, it felt like everyone at school was  doing nothing but talking about Pandora’s clearing, Akito explained to  Yakumo.

(Does senpai perhaps also a player?)

Akito became slightly curious and brought up the topic but…….

「My school was also talking about it. Even though there are  unexpectedly a lot of young lady there, they all talked about  Pandora……even my junior was noisy about it. And they were making a  ruckus about how their schedule for July is packed.」

Yakumo didn’t say that she was also a Pandora’s player. Akito replied 「Is that so」.

(As I thought, senpai might not play it.)

Akito was thinking of Yakumo like that. Then Yakumo brought up a topic with Akito.

「Hey, what is your plan for the summer holiday?」

「Eh? S-summer holiday!?」

「Yes. Your plan for summer holiday.」

Yakumo asked him with a smile, so Akito became excited.

(Could it be this is that! We’re finally going to go out and play together for real, that kind of――)

「F-for now I’m only planning to get the car license……」

Yakumo checked the date after she heard that.

She operated the screen on the wall and checked the shift chart before she nodded several times.

「Aa~, you’re a first year aren’t you. So it’s the time for that……in  that case, if I make it like this here……as I thought, I’ll work with  someone else for two days.」

Akito was bashful until just now but, the color of his face immediately returned to normal.

「Eh? Umm……why is senpai checking my schedule?」

「No, it’s because you and I are treated like a set. So I’m curious  about it. Haa, I wonder who I’m going to be paired with. Besides the  work hour is going to increase too during the summer holiday.」

Well, the extra pay will be nice, Yakumo said. Akito watched her while his shoulders dropped in disappointment.

「……That’s right isn’t it~」

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At night.

Maya came to the house of Jun who was busy with various things.

It looked like the hecticness had settled down, even so the family looked like they were still feeling the sadness.

Maya talked alone with Jun. She felt relieved seeing that Jun’s haggard face had gotten a bit brighter.

「Thank you for before. It was a great help.」

「No, but umm……」

Maya looked troubled. Jun smiled wryly seeing that.

「I won’t tattle to your father. But I think it’s also problematic if you let loose too much.」

Maya sighed in relieve. Jun made a very conflicted look seeing her.

「Well, everyone has a side in them that they can’t show to anyone  else. However, for Maya-chan to be a queen……it makes me feeling very  complicated.」

「T-that’s not how it looked like! It’s just those orcs who called me like that on their own!」

Jun said 「Is that so? You looked like you were having a lot of fun though……well, it’s fine I guess.」 and entered the main topic.

「Really thank you. Not everything that I heard was good thing but, I  learned that my son ran around freely and had fun in that world. Though I  never thought that he would use an avatar that was made to look similar  with me.」

Maya regained her composure and continued talking.

「Surely he respected you a lot.」

He never said in with words but, he went as far as making his avatar  to look similar with his father. Surely he had that kind of feeling for  him.

Jun nodded a little after Maya said that.

「I hope it’s true. ……Also, I decided to continue playing for a while. I’m curious about what my son had seen over there.」

Maya smiled.

「Then, want me to show you around?」

Jun shook his head.

「As expected I can’t ask you to go that far for me. I had asked  around and it seems that I won’t be able to go to the next world yet. I  don’t want to be a bother. Besides, I want to take it a bit slow.」

Jun was still busy even after his son died. He got a faraway look in his eyes as he said that.

「……Even now I’m still thinking it. If only I played together with him. Surely, it would be fun.」

Jun looked at the photo of his departed son and the photo that was taken inside the game beside it.

◇

「One~two!」

At the portal that was set up in the Capital of Hope.

Ponsuke and the others got on top of it. They selected the Capital of  Temperance as their destination and experienced teleportation to other  world. They jumped out of the portal at the same time.

The ground that they stepped on had grass growing from it.

They looked around and saw the buildings here had plants twining  around them. Among them there were even some buildings that were covered  with tree.

Mariela looked excited for some reason after looking at the surrounding.

「This capital seems gentle to the eye. Besides there are also a lot of elves among the NPC.」

In contrast Alfie’s impression was,

「It feels like the capital is overrun by plants. At the middle……that tree, isn’t it too huge?」

At the middle of the city was a tree so large it looked like the roof of the whole capital.

Even though the tree should be blocking the sun, the Capital of Temperance was enveloped in a very warm light.

Looking up at the sky, the branches of the giant tree were covering up the sky.

Then a screen suddenly popped out in front of the three’s eyes.

「Uwah! ……Level restriction removed?」

The screen was written with the words ‘Welcome to the Capital of Temperance’――it was a welcoming message.

Similarly it also notified them of the removal of a part of the level  restriction. It also notified them about the removal of the friendship  meter’s upper limit.

In addition there was writing that we should head to the guild or the  shrine because there were many differences to this place than the  Capital of Hope.

Mariela looked around.

「How about we look around this Capital of Temperance while heading to the guild and the shrine?」

Alfie felt a bit unmotivated.

「Even if you say that, this place looks like it has few places to play around. Or rather, the atmosphere even feel desolate.」

There were destroyed buildings――from tree growing too big and broke through the roof from inside.

Elf NPCs were using such buildings to do their business.

「Well, we should finish our business first before looking around. ……Whoops, sorr――」

Ponsuke started walking before he almost crashed into a passerby who suddenly jumped in front of him.

He stopped walking and apologized. It looked like the passerby was an elf NPC.

The elf was about to apologize too, but then she suddenly frowned and  her attitude became bad when she saw that Ponsuke was an orc.

She looked at Ponsuke and spat 「Peh!」.

「Wha-! Hey!」

Mariela was about to complain, but the NPC’s attitude changed drastically and she joined her hands in front of her chest.

「My, a fellow elf. Welcome to the Capital of Temperance. We welcome you here.」

「Eh, ah, yes. Wait, no! You just spat at Ponsuke!」

The elf NPC smiled very gently and acted like she didn’t have any idea at all about what Mariela said.

Alfie remembered something and spoke.

「Aa~, it’s because Ponsuke is an orc that she acted like that. Or  rather, this place looks like it has a lot of elf, so this place is like  an enemy base for Ponsuke――」

Then the NPC made a clearly disgusted expression and sighed.

「A human huh. Haa, you inferior life form are really noisy.」

Alfie’s expression stiffened.

「Ha?」

「Oh, are you deaf? This is why I can’t stand lower life form.」

Ponsuke stopped Alfie who had vein throbbing on her forehead by grabbing her shoulder. Mariela stepped forward and――.

「Come on, let’s leave already.」

Then the NPC waved her hand a little. She smiled only to Mariela.

「Do your best.」

Alfie yelled.

「What’s with her attitude just now!」

The players around them laughed seeing Alfie’s indignation and explained.

「Aa~, that NPC is [Clara Noi Agui]. She’s famous as an NPC that has  harsh attitude toward other races. Quite a lot of the other NPCs also  tend to react similarly like that, so it’s better if you just ignore  them.」

It seemed that elf was fundamentally harsh toward other races.

But Alfie apparently couldn’t bear it.

「We finally came to the Capital of Temperance and yet this is the first memory that we got!」

The player who took the trouble to explain to them smiled while talking.

「It’s really popular you know. Even NPC has their own friendship  meter. Apparently they’ll become a nice tsundere if you increase your  friendship with them, so some players even come to give present to them  almost every day.」

Certainly the elves here had blonde hair, blue eyes, and long ears――they were exactly like the elf in many people’s imagination.

Alfie fell into deep thought, but Ponsuke pulled her to resume walking.

「Thank you very much for the explanation. Come on, let’s go.」

Ponsuke thanked the player who gave them explanation before the three headed toward the guild.

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The guild’s receptionist lady was also an elf.

「Welcome Ponsuke-sama. The management has prepared a special reward for you.」

The adventurer guild.

The inside of the building was also flourishing with plants. The  place looked really mysterious. The ground was covered with a soft  carpet of grass, while the chairs were broken pillars that were covered  with vegetation or moss.

The three visited such place and received special reward from the management when they went to the reception.

It was a small flute.

「This is a flute that is convenient for traveling with its ability to  call horse. It’s not limited to one time use and can be used  repeatedly. However, it can only be used once per login. Please pay  attention when using it.」

The three accepted the flute and wondered if it was alright for them to receive something like this.

「This is really convenient.」

Alfie seemed to have the same thought, but Mariela was different.

「We should just accept it if it’s given to us. Besides, if they’re  giving us this it must means that it won’t give us that much advantage  than other players even if we get something like this.」

Certainly it was just as she said. Ponsuke thought that and received simple explanation from the guild.

「There’s no difference between the Capital of Temperance and the  Capital of Hope about receiving request. However, a lot of requests here  come from elves. Their reaction will differ depending on your race, so  please keep that in mind.」

A capital with a lot of elves.

This place would surely be troublesome for Ponsuke.

(Hmm~, will I be alright from here on?)

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Ponsuke left the guild and immediately tried using the flute together with Mariela and Alfie.

They were curious what kind of horse would come, but the horse that  responded to Mariela’s call had mottled pattern――it was the horse that  she used when travelling with Nanako.

「It’s you? Hey, don’t lick me.」

Mariela looked happy with the horse.

The horse that Alfie called was the haughty looking black horse.

「Isn’t this just the dev preparing the same horse with that time  because they found it troublesome――wait, ouch! Don’t bite me! This  stupid horse!」

Alfie’s head was bitten by the black horse. She tidied up her messed blonde hair.

And then in front of Ponsuke was――.

「……It’s you as I thought. I already predicted this a little.」

――When he heard that the flute would summon horse, Ponsuke wondered  if he too would be able to ride a thoroughbred horse, but his hope was  splendidly smashed to pieces.

「Peh!」

The animal seemed to be similarly dissatisfied. It spat at Ponsuke.

As expected in front of Ponsuke was a donkey. Furthermore it was the donkey that he was riding before.

「……This damn donkeyyy! I’ll teach you which one of us is boss here!」

Ponsuke attacked furiously at the impudent donkey.

But the donkey turned around and showed its behind to Ponsuke.

(T-this guy!)

Ponsuke thought that he was being made fun of and moved to grab the  donkey, but when he realized it he was looking up to the sky.

He could see the magnificent thick branches and large leaves. He didn’t understand why he was lying on the ground.

Mariela and Alfie was peering down on Ponsuke’s face.

「Hey, you alright there?」

「Ponsuke, let’s calm down a little.」

Ponsuke was lying sprawled on the ground. He felt down that a donkey had defeated him.

Nearby, the donkey who defeated Ponsuke was neighing. It sounded like it was laughing.

「……I’ll make you pay for this one day.」

Ponsuke who treated a donkey as his rival.

The two girls carefully helped him on his feet, and then they  cancelled the horse summon before heading to the shrine. Ponsuke was  walking while being supported by the two girls. His back looked to be  very gray from behind.

◇

The next day.

「Look at this Akito! At this thread!」

Riku showed his tablet at Akito while laughing.

Akito was drinking juice while taking a look at the thread. He got shocked.

「[Sad News] Exercise Master Ponsuke, Defeated by Donley [rofl]!? Wait, this is!」

It seemed there was a player who saw him getting defeated by the donkey. And then that player posted it in the forum.

There was no video, so the player wrote about the situation at that time with some funny exaggeration.

「Haha~, the famous guy is really different. However, what’s with this  defeated by donkey thing? It’s impossible to get into a fight with  donkey if you just play normally.」

Riku looked like he was enjoying this. He read up several of the postings.

「He is the exercise master and yet he lost against donkey?」

「There isn’t any relation between aerobic and fighting. Or rather,  he’s in the Capital of Temperance now? ……Then he’s level 50 right? And  yet he lost against donkey.」

「Bob is going to cry when he heard it.」

「Eh? That guy’s Tom right?」

「Or rather, how did one lose against donkey? You won’t even encounter any donkey if you just play normally right?」

「It’s amazing that he lost against donkey, but him even being able to  fight one is also amazing. As expected Ponsuke is amazing. He isn’t  that strong though.」

「Is it that? In other words, a donkey is stronger than some cheating bastards?」

「Why are you mentioning cheaters here? Ponsuke is a dance master right?」

「He’s exercise master, not dance master. Before he got famous from  the aerobic, he defeated some cheating bastards at the Capital of Hope.  Even though it was quite the hot topic, why was it the dance that became  more famous?」

「Thinking seriously about it, it’s amazing. He fought a donkey and  got KO-ed from a single rear kick you know? If it was me I would be too  embarrassed to login anymore.」

「……Who cares about that. The problem is how two beautiful girls  helped him stand up before supporting him to the shrine after that.」

「The queen and miss boobies huh. But, inside they’re uncl――sorry, it looks like someone came.」

「Isn’t there anyone who has the video?」

Riku read the posts while laughing. In contrast Ponsuke was trembling all over.

「Wait. Wait a second. Why is this turning into rumor like this!」

「You’re really amazing when it come to gathering attention huh. If  it’s me I’ll refuse getting famous from this kind of thing though.」

Akito consulted Riku if there was something that could be done about it, but Riku only laughed and shook his head.

This happened when July was almost there and the season was changing to summer.

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