Pandora of Fantasy And Reality Chapter 19

Prologue

It was a forest with filled with big trees. The ground was slightly muddy.

The big trees and vegetations there were something that couldn’t be  seen in real world. All of them were so big that it deluded anyone who  entered the forest to feel like it was them who had shrunken.

Two girls were running through that forest.

「Hurry!」

Her strange long red hair was standing out inside the forest.

The elf girl carrying a bow in hand was wearing equipments that could be called light. They were clinging tightly on her body.

She looked like a model with her long limbs. And looking at her breastplate it was clear that the girl had big breasts.

That girl Mariela was followed by a human girl running behind her.

「I know!」

She was wearing a red dress and brown boots.

The beautiful girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, Alfie was wearing  an outfit that didn’t seem to be suitable for going into a forest. She  was following behind Mariela while running through the muddy ground.

Her big breasts that were wrapped in her dress were jiggling slightly. And then the two looked behind them.

A monster stomped on the ground. Its footsteps could be heard for every step it took.

It was an orc that was two meters tall. It held a large shield in his left hand and a one-handed sword in his right hand.

It was wearing plated skirt, gauntlets, leg protectors, and breastplate that were made from metal.

Its skin color was ashen, but its hair was silver and so long that it covered its back.

It was also wearing a forehead protector. Its whole body was protected with equipments.

The scene of such an orc chasing two girls and slowly catching up to them was truly a bloodcurdling sight.

But――.

「It caught up!」

When Alfie yelled that to the approaching orc, the orc stopped  running on the spot. Its legs that were acting as brake gouged the muddy  ground and left behind some tracks.

Mariela also chose an arrow from her quiver and nocked it on her bow.

Only Alfie kept running ahead. She yelled toward the two.

「I’ll go ahead until the arranged location!」

「Go ahead!」

Mariela replied as they passed each other. And so Alfie left that place by herself.

The orc lowered his stance, and put the left side of his body to the front to cover himself with the shield.

He looked around at his surrounding, and then――.

「Ponsuke, up!」

Mariela’s voice made the orc Ponsuke to lift his face. He saw a large  monkey with red mask jumping down toward him and narrowed his eyes.

「This guy is persistent!」

The monkey with red mask and brown fur was three meters tall.

The monster’s name was Red Face. It was a field boss.

It had gotten damaged a lot while chasing Ponsuke’s party all around,  but the accumulation of damage infuriated it and increased its attack  power.

「WAKYAAAAAA!」

Red Face started swinging around both its hands to hit Ponsuke.

Ponsuke blocked the attack with his large shield. Sometimes he would  also stabbed with his one-handed sword to reduce Red Face’s HP.

Mariela was firing arrow from slight distance away.

The arrow grazed Ponsuke’s ear before piercing Red Face. Seeing that  Ponsuke drew his left hand far behind before hitting Red Face with his  large shield and blew it away.

「Ora, eat Shield Bash!」

After Ponsuke’s attack landed, the word [Combo] floated above Red Face’s head.

As expected even Red Face got blown away from the team attack. Its breathing became rough.

Seeing that Ponsuke――.

「RUUUUNN!」

Said that and turned his back to the field boss before he broke into a run.

Mariela also put away her bow and escaped from that place.

Right now the three of them were repeating this process to damage the boss bit by bit.

Red Face was trembling in rage seeing Ponsuke’s party, the players  doing that. It opened its mouth widely and shouted before giving chase  once more.

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Ponsuke and others finally arrived to an open space inside the forest.

Ponsuke checked his current HP and status before nodding at the other two.

「Yosh, we’ll finish this here. I never thought that we would really  run into the field boss. Thank god we had prepared beforehand.」

There was a trap placed at the center of the open space.

It was something that Alfie set up after arriving here first.

Alfie unsheathed her prided paid weapon and readied herself.

「Everything is fully prepared with this. Let’s beat the hell out of this field boss.」

Alfie who fully equipped herself with paid items had invested a thousand and several hundred yen of real money for all those.

Ponsuke thought that it was such a waste because all of those items would break after two or three times of login.

Mariela pointed her left hand to her party members and casted magic.

It was buff magic to increase their status.

「What do you mean fully prepared? Come on, look over here. I’ll apply buff to you too.」

It was only natural to buff one’s status before a boss fight. Few  boss could be defeated without players preparing countermeasure  beforehand.

Even though it was possible to simply level up and used brute force to win in offline, they were online here.

It would be troubling if such simple method could work here.

After having multiple buffs applied to her, Alfie started coaxing Ponsuke.

「Ponsuke, do that please. That!」

Ponsuke made a reluctant face when she asked him that.

「That? But, it’s not really effective though?」

Mariela also shrugged and slapped Ponsuke’s large and thick arm.

「Don’t be like that, it’s not like doing that cost you anything.」

「Using the skill once will make the cooldown……well, fine.」

Then Ponsuke raised both his hands and roared like a monster.

It was the [Roar of Strength] ――something that he obtained from an orc exclusive quest before.

But it only increased status temporarily. And it only lasted for thirty seconds.

It was difficult to choose the right timing to use it, and on top of  that using buff magic was easier and lasted longer than that in a normal  fight.

(As I thought orc is just a joke race.)

In this VRMMORPG called Pandora’s Box Garden Garden, orc was an unfortunate race. Ponsuke chose to play as such a race.

Ponsuke’s skill affected Alfie and her body trembled as her status increased.

「Aa~, this feeling is nice.」

Mariela was exasperated with her.

「You really like it huh.」

It seemed that Alfie liked the feeling that the increase in status  gave her. She frequently asked Ponsuke to do Roar of Strength to feel  it.

「I don’t mind using it but, we need to start prepar――」

It was then.

Alfie looked up and raised her weapon.

Mariela also turned around and jumped back while lifting her bow.

Similarly Ponsuke also readied his weapon. And then Red Face fell down on the clearing in the middle of the forest.

「……Ah, the trap’s at the wrong spot!」

It was just as Alfie said, Red Face was standing in front of where the trap was placed. It was just a small difference.

「As I thought it’s not enough just watching the video once.」

Ponsuke said that and rushed forward.

Alfie also broke into a run to circle the boss from the side. Mariela also matched their movement.

The three were able to work together even without saying anything. They had gotten that far in their group unity.

「Shield Tackle!」

「Double Blow!」

「Triple Shot!」

They used skill with timing that skillfully overlapped, resulting in a  combo. The planned attack pushed Red Face back into the trap.

The trap consisted of several traps that activated all at once. Red Face was held in place, electrified, and burned.

At the end there was explosion. Ponsuke who was the nearest to the trap got affected and became blown away.

The explosion was so strong that it even blew away an orc’s huge  body. As expected even Red Face couldn’t endure that and it vanished  when the black smoke cleared up.

The words “Red Face Defeated” popped out in front of the three.

「YOSSHAAA!」

Ponsuke stood up and raised both his hands. Alfie and Mariela also  ran toward him and celebrated the victory happily by cheerfully hugging  and doing high five with each other.

Alfie wiped the sweat on her forehead while saying.

「Whew~, we have defeated almost all the area boss and field boss with this.」

Mariela smiled wryly in respond.

「Well…… we had hit the limit with a lot of things recently. Because we haven’t taken the quest to leave Capital of Hope.」

Ponsuke’s shoulders dropped.

「Ain’t that right」

Originally they wanted to move on to the next capital immediately, but to do that there was a quest that had to be done first.

However they couldn’t take that quest.

Ponsuke got back on his feet and said to the two that they should return.

「It’s already time, so how about we return to the city? Today is the  second day, so let’s eat somewhere before going to the inn. Or, we can  play around through the night.」

A player could only access Pandora for two hours per day. However that two hours got stretched by 24 times inside the game.

In other words they could play inside the game for two days.

Mariela apparently disliked playing throughout the night.

「I’ll pass playing through the night. Because it’ll give you bad  status when you login next. Besides it’s tiring, so I want to sleep  after dinner and making merry.」

As for Alfie it seemed that she hadn’t played enough.

「Ee~, let’s go play. Look, the night amusement park is a lot of fun. Let’s ride Ferris wheel and eat some junk foods.」

The three chatted and in the end they decided to play at the amusement park for a bit before sleeping.

*

In the real world.

Ponsuke――Naruse Akito slowly opened his eyes.

He confirmed that the game had ended and glanced at the clock. The time was seven o’clock like usual.

It was becoming his habit every morning to wake at five o’clock and logged in to the game.

He got up while taking off his head set and rotated his shoulder.

「Aa~, it was fun too this time.」

He chose to play as orc, but now he thought that it wasn’t bad even  though it was a joke character. There was quite the fun to be had even  like that.

Besides, his two beautiful acquaintances were disliking the idea of him changing his race.

「Fuu……it can’t be helped. And it’s time.」

The request of two beautiful girls were hard to refuse……wasn’t the  reason why he chose to stay as orc. It was because Akito himself thought  that it was fine playing as orc.

Besides.

「Haa, if only those two are also beautiful girl in RL. No, that kind of thinking is wrong. Game is something to be enjoyed.」

Those two were precious comrades who helped and had fun together with him.

That was fine, Ponsuke said to himself.

After all Pandora’s Box Garden was an online game. Just like how  Akito could create avatar with completely difference appearance from  himself, it was also possible for male to use avatar of beautiful girl.

Akito stretched.

「Now then, I also have work today. Let’s do my best.」

He said that and began preparing to go to school. He changed into his uniform.

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At the classroom in the morning.

Akito was sitting on his seat. Sitting in front of him was Aoba Riku who had his hair dyed blonde.

He was Akito’s friend. He was also tall. He was a sportsman in the past, but then he quitted it due to his lack of talent.

Riku was also the friend who recommended Pandora’s Box Garden to Akito.

「Yo, how long are you going to stay in the Capital of Hope? Come to the frontline already.」

Riku said that with a bored look. Akito sighed.

「No, things like level and friendship meter and others have all hit  the current limit. I have also finished the preparation to advance. But  the problem is that we can’t form a raid.」

Not only his party only consisted of three people, because of Akito’s  avatar being an orc, other players thought of him as casual  player……someone who didn’t really enjoy the game’s main theme.

Because of that he was unable to challenge the quest.

「That’s horrible. Want me to lend you a hand?」

Hearing his friend’s over, Akito thought for a while before he shook his head.

「It’s alright. Besides, I’m thinking to use this as chance to search for at least one more party member.」

Riku looked happy to hear that.

「I see. I hope you’ll find them.」

「Yeah.」

However, Riku gave Akito an advice.

「Even so, you need to think about your own circumstance. If you’re  going to look for party member, it might be better if you find two or  three of them.」

There were also people who couldn’t login every day because of their  real world circumstance. What Riku said was correct if that was taken  into consideration.

「I guess so. Then, perhaps I’ll search for at least two people.」

Riku shook his head.

「Your party’s fixed members are three right? Then you should keep  searching and widen your circle of acquaintances. That was will  absolutely be more fun. In the first place, you only played with those  two all the time and have few acquaintances among players right?」

Akito recalled his acquaintances.

The faces of Alfie, Mariela, and then the fellow orcs who acknowledged him as [Hardcore M] as they pleased came to his mind.

He covered his face with his hands.

「W-what’s wrong?」

「Sorry. I recalled how my circle of friends is too horrible.」

The players who felt ecstasy from getting scorned and proud for being an orc. But, all of them were hardcore M.

(I don’t want to be thought as the same like them. No, wait……could it  be a lot of players saw them and thought that orc race is a gathering  for that kind of players? T-that’s really bad!)

Akito feared that in the future he would be thought as hardcore M  just from being an orc and thought that he should widen his circle of  friends in order to solve that misunderstanding.

「Riku, I’ll do it. I’ll make a lot of friends!」

「O-ou. I see.」

Riku got slightly creeped out by his enthusiasm, but he had no  composure to care about that. The current Akito was desperate to remove  his future anxiety.

Then the class president Ichinose Maya approached them. Her brown hair that was styled half up swayed as she walked.

「Naruse-kun, Aoba-kun, it’s fine to be energetic from the morning,  but you two should also submit the forms properly. Yesterday I got  mailed a complaint by teacher about it. Are you two checking your email  properly?」

Both Akito and Riku took out their smartphone and checked. Then they  made a face when they saw the mail from their homeroom teacher.

Akito apologized to Maya.

「Sorry. I’ll submit it right away. Err……」

Maya put her hands on her hips. She had keen mind and outstanding  athletic ability. On top of that she was a rich young lady. She was like  the very description of an elite. That Maya was smiling even though  there was a bit of exasperation in it.

「Please submit it within today okay? Come on, the teacher will come soon.」

Maya said that before she returned to her seat.

Riku watched her back in relieve.

「President is intense. Well, she has gotten mellower recently though.」

Akito also agreed.

「Yeah.」

The homeroom teacher entered the classroom. He told the twenty students inside to go sit on their chair.

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A small branch supermarket located at the residential district, Mild.

Akito was working part-time there. His senior who worked in the same  shift there, Shikata Yakumo was a second year high school student who  went to a different school. They were sorting the shelves while talking.

The store was bigger than convenience store, but it was cramped for a supermarket.

There was a full-time employee at the back office doing administration work.

All the other worlds were mainly dealt by the two part-timers.

「The movie that I watched during the holiday was the worst. My junior  invited me to watch it so I came with her, but there were too many  people it was noisy, and there were also a lot of men who came just to  hit on girl. And this man who sat beside me, I don’t know whether he  came to watch movie or to give commentary about it. I couldn’t have fun  at all.」

Akito smiled wryly as he listened to Yakumo’s complaint.

「That movie is popular after all. How about watching it again when it has calmed down a bit?」

Yakumo was tall with red hair that she kept in short bob style.

It seemed she was attending girls’ school and popular among her juniors.

「I couldn’t enjoy it, so I plan to watch it one more time. Hey, how  about we go watch it together in the next holiday? You can help me  warding away other men.」

Akito felt conflicted. He felt happy mixed with sad because Yakumo only wanted to use him as repellent against other men.

(It’s nice being able to go out together with her but, my role is as man repellent……well, at least she doesn’t hate me.)

「I’m alright with that. Then let’s go at the end of this――ah, looks like there’s a customer.」

Akito’s gaze moved toward the other side of the transparent automatic  door. There was a customer who was about to enter inside over there.

Yakumo looked at the clock.

「It’ll be crowded soon. I’ll work the register, so you take care over here.」

She patted Akito’s shoulder. He replied affirmatively and continued working.

*

「Listen to me Ponsuke! Teache――I mean my superior sent me complaining  email even though it was about something that wasn’t my  responsibility.」

Inside the game.

Inside a wooden building, Ponsuke and Alfie and Mariela were sitting  around a table. They spent their time from morning to afternoon outside  for earning money.

They went to a bar after they finished. There Alfie started complaining.

「It’s RL happening? Well, that must be hard.」

Ponsuke’s attitude made Alfie hit the table with her hands. But the  food there didn’t spill even though the plates clattered from the  impact.

「Listen! Please listen to my story carefully! It really wasn’t my responsibility you know!」

Mariela was eating grilled fish while listening to the story.

「But in your position that was only normal right?」

「Uu……that’s true, but still」

Alfie kept muttering complains. Then next Mariela talked about what happened to her recently.

「As for me, I guess there was this movie that I couldn’t enjoy. There  were too many noisy people. That’s the problem with movie theater.」

Ponsuke recalled Yakumo’s story in real life, but he didn’t connect it to Mariela.

「Aa, let me guess, a lot of men were hitting on girls there, right?  I’m going to watch that movie after thing calmed down a bit.」

(Well, I’ll only go as men repellent for my senpai at work though. What’s the right thing to say here?)

Ponsuke decided to not tell in detail for the sake of his small pride.

Alfie joined her hands before her chest with bright expression.

「That’s nice. It’s my dream to watch B-movie in movie theater that  doesn’t has a lot of other moviegoers. In that kind of place, someone  will approach and sit at my side and we’ll have adult talk……I want to  try something like that once.」

It seemed that Alfie was harboring admiration for a scene of meeting in movie theater to exchange information.

Mariela shrugged.

「What? You have admiration for job like information broker or spy?」

「No, what I admire is the atmosphere. Can’t you understand? That kind of scene often appeared in the movies from 20th and 21st century.」

21st century……that period was the turning point for mankind.

There was a “lost era” between that period and the current era.

What was lost was the era where mankind didn’t exist――couldn’t exist  on the surface of earth. There was no human n the surface during that  era, so it was really a blank period that had nothing.

Mariela took a shishamo smelt (grilled little fish) and stared on it.

「21st century huh……as expected the elderly must missed it.」

Mariela put the fish into her mouth and chewed. She looked a bit sad when she said that.

Seeking for the lost taste inside the game. The number of old people  who did that wasn’t small. Many such old people were blending with the  noisy players at the surrounding.

Ponsuke brought up a different topic in order to enliven the gloomy atmosphere.

「Ah, come to think of it, how about we do member recruitment after this? I want to get healer the most.」

Alfie also raised her hand and suggested to Ponsuke.

「I won’t complain if they will come with us to defeat the fire dragon  together! I want to go to the Capital of Temperance quickly!」

Mariela also nodded.

She kept eating the shishamo smelts without stopping. She might have taken a liking to it.

「Yeah. But, let’s avoid any parasite or someone who like to insult.」

Ponsuke also agreed with that.

「Certainly. There are people like that. We’re going to run across more of them.」

The three talked with good humor about their recent failures where they met troublesome player recently.

*

Mariela――Yakumo woke up and took off her headset.

It was seven o’clock when she looked at the clock. She stretched on  the bed. It made the cloth over her abdomen to be pulled up and made her  navel visible.

「Aa~, I feel refreshed somehow.」

Every time she would make plans of where to play but, they always  ended up going to some random bar, made merry, and when they realized it  was already night.

She wanted to go to a restaurant with good atmosphere or played at tasteful place.

However it always became like that when the three of them were together.

But, she didn’t hate it.

「Now then, let’s do my best again today.」

Yakumo said that and took off her clothes to change into her uniform.

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It was seven o’clock.

Ichinose Maya opened her eyes and got up while still wearing her  headset. She was in a daze like that for a while before she sighed.

「Haa, it was fun too today.」

Their progress with the game’s main part hadn’t advanced at all, but  for Maya――for Alfie, the time the three of them spent playing together  was something very precious.

It wasn’t like she wanted to fight at the frontline as clearer.

It was fine as long as they had fun. And then when it was time to play, she wanted to play seriously.

She felt very fulfilled from having friends who allowed her to do that.

「Even so, the mystery of Ponsuke keeps deepening. The movie that  became popular recently is only that movie that is a hit among women.  Does Ponsuke also want to hit on girls?」

Time passed quickly as she fell into thought.

When fifteen minutes had passed, Maya stood up and removed her headset.

「……Look at the time, I need to quickly prepare.」

Even though it was something that happened online, the three of them  was actually within very close range and connected to each other in real  life.

The boy and girls didn’t notice that.

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